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November 2004 Personalities:
Jonathan S. Adelstein - (7) - Democrat US Federal Communications Commissioner; Raúl Alarcón - Chairman/CEO, Spanish Broadcasting System (US); Michael Anderson - (2) - CEO, Austereo; Edward G. Atsinger III - President and CEO, Salem Communications, US; Sally De La Bedoyere - Managing director, UK radio ratings organization RAJAR; Tony Bell - managing director, Southern Cross Broadcasting Australia; Mark Belling -(3) - Milwaukee talk-host (suspended over use of term "wetback"); Ralph Bernard - (2) - executive chairman and former chief executive UK radio group GWR; John Bitove -- (2) - Canadian entrepreneur, chairman and CEO Canadian Satellite Radio; Walter "Salty" Brine -veteran Rhode Island host (deceased); Wes Butters - BBC Radio 1 "Chart Show" host- contract not being renewed; Mike Carlton - Sydney 2UE breakfast host; Stephen Carter -chief executive British media regulator, Ofcom; Angela Clarke - Chief Executive Macquarie Radio Network, Australia; Joseph P Clayton - (2) - Chairman and former CEO, Sirius (Satellite Radio) (US); Michael J. Copps - Democrat US Federal Communications Commissioner; Sara Cox - BBC Radio 1 host; Anthony Cumia - Anthony of US Opie and Anthony show; John Dahlsen- chairman, Southern Cross Broadcasting, Australia; Charles Dalfen - chairman,Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC); Lewis W. Dickey Jr. - chairman, president, and Chief Executive Officer, Cumulus Media, US; Paul Donovan- U.K. Sunday Times radio columnist; John Dunn - veteran BBC host (deceased); Noel Edmonds - veteran British DJ; Bob Edwards - XM Satellite Radio host; Robert Feder - (4) - Chicago Sun-Times media columnist; David J. Field -(2) - President and CEO Entercom, US; John Gehron - Clear Channel Chicago Regional VP/Market Manager; Lord Gordon of Strathblane - chairman, Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH); Ray Hadley -2GB, Sydney, morning host; Peter Harvie -executive chairman Austereo; Joel Hogg - Joel of UK JK and Joel duo; Joel Hollander -President and COO, Infinity Broadcasting; Gregg Hughes - Opie of US Opie and Anthony show; Richard Huntingford - chief-executive, Chrysalis Group, UK; Alan Jones - Sydney 2GB breakfast host; Mel Karmazin - (4) - CEO Sirius Satellite Radio and former Viacom President and COO; Sarah Kennedy - BBC Radio 2 host; Jason King - JK of UK JK and Joel duo; William Kling -president of Minnesota Public Radio; William Krippaehne Jr. - CEO, Fisher Communications (US); Steve Lamacq- BBC Radio DJ; John Laws - (2) - Sydney 2UE morning host; Alfred C. Liggins III - (2) - president and chief executive, Radio One Inc (US); Rush Limbaugh- (3) -Conservative US talk-show host; Larry Lujack - Chicago veteran disc jockey; Lyn Maddock - (3) - Acting chair, Australian Broadcasting Authority; Elisabeth Mahoney - UK Guardian radio critic; David Mansfield - chief executive Capital Radio, UK; Kevin J. Martin - Republican US FCC Commissioner; Mark Mays - President and CEO, Clear Channel; William McEntee - SVP and CFO, Interep; Tom Moloney -Chief Executive, Emap plc, UK; Leslie Moonves - co-president and co-COO, Viacom; Chris Moyles - BBC Radio1 breakfast host; Erich "Mancow" Muller - Chicago-based U.S. morning host; John Myers - chief executive of Guardian Media Group Radio(UK); James Naughtie - BBC Radio 4 Breakfast show presenter; Hugh Panero - president and CEO, XM Satellite Radio; Andy Parfitt - BBC Radio 1 Controller; John Peel - (7) - veteran British broadcaster (died Oct 2004); A. Jerrold Perenchio - Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Univision (US); Michael K. Powell - (3) - Chairman, US Federal Communications Commission; Steve Price - Sydney 2UE drive time host; Mary Quass - CEO, NewRadio Group, US; Robert Rabinovitch- (2) - president Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; Lesley Riddoch - BBC Radio Scotland host; Bill Rose -- Arbitron Internet Broadcast Services Vice-President and General Manager; Kevin Shea - (2) - CEO Sirius Canada; John Singleton --majority shareholder in Macquarie radio network, Australia (owns Sydney 2GB); Tavis Smiley- US National Public Radio host, formerly with Black Entertainment Television; Howard Stern - (5) - - US shock jock; Farid Suleman -Chairman and CEO Citadel Communications ; Markus Tellenbach - CEO, SBS Broadcasting, SA; McHenry Tichenor Jr - President Univision Radio Walter F. Ulloa - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Entravision(US); Don and Roma Wade- (2) - Chicago WLS-AM morning hosts; Terry Wogan - BBC Radio 2 breakfast host; Chris Wright - chairman and co-founder Chrysalis Group, UK;
Numbers in brackets indicate the number of stories involving an individual mentioned more than once

November 2004 Archive

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Radiofeeds UK -for comprehensive list of UK broadcast radio stations on the Internet

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World Service:
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World Service
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BBC Where I Live (for local stations):
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Radio 4 stream (AM):
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CBC,Canada
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Hourly newscast:

US National Public Radio
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Audio News reports:

WORLD RADIO NETWORK (listeners area has on-demand audio reports from various broadcasters from round the world)

Music Streams
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- October 2004 - December 2004
Links- internally where there are follow-up stories we try, at the end of each story, to put a pertinent link to the top of the next relevant story. Regarding external links see note at end of page.
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RNW November comment - Looks, as the "buying" season approaches at What we'd like from radio in the future
RNW October comment - Rethinks our previous timetable for competing media to bite into profitability of US terrestrial radio in light of talent moves to satellite radio and faster than anticipated take-up of broadband.
RNW September comment - Considers in the light of CBS's use of dodgy documents and the response of some US talk hosts, the importance of reputation and reliability for a broadcaster and for US democracy.

2004-11-30: Arbitron, which took over Measurecast's internet ratings service in November 2002 but then folded it into its own Internet ratings service that it closed it down earlier this year (See RNW April 15) has now announced a new service for online radio.
It is being introduced in conjunction with comScore Media Metrix, a division of comScore Networks, Inc. and they say it is designed to "provide traditional broadcast ratings." Ratings will be expressed in AQH and cume and cover the traditional broadcast divisions in times and demographics.
The comScore Arbitron Online Radio Ratings are to make their debut next week with ratings being released monthly: Its results will be based on a subset of approximately 200,000 U.S. participants within the comScore global consumer panel.
Proprietary technology will be used to continuously capture the online behaviour of these panellists, including online radio listening and the new service has signed up America Online's AOL Radio Network; Yahoo's LAUNCHcast; and Microsoft's MSN Radio and Windowsmedia.com as charter subscribers for the new service.
"Consumers are increasingly tuning to online radio and advertisers need credible audience measurement to justify their increasing investment in this medium," said Bill Rose, vice president, Arbitron New Ventures. "We are combining Barberton's expertise in radio ratings with co Score's online measurement capabilities to provide the numbers that agencies need to evaluate online radio in the same terms as traditional broadcast media."
Previous Arbitron:
Previous Rose:

2004-11-30: Long-time BBC Radio 2 presenter John Dunn has died aged 70 of cancer after a career that included 30 years with the station, which he jointed in 1967. He hosted its Breakfast Special and Late Night Extra programms before moving to the Drivetime programme that he hosted for 23 years.
He was born in Glasgow and started his broadcasting career in the Royal Air Force before joining the BBC in 1957as a studio manager and later reading the news on the World Service.
He broadcast from around the world and many locations, including a hot air balloon, a Nimrod aircraft and from the middle of the English Channel in a Force 9 gale: He made radio history in 1996 when he aired his show live from Antarctica.
Dunn was Radio Personality of the Year on three occasions and was awarded a Sony Gold Award in 1998 for the best Drivetime Music Programme about which he commented, "After a long scratchy day at the office, stuck in a traffic jam and it's raining, I just wanted to remind listeners that 98% of people out there are extremely nice and we tend to forget this."
Paying tribute, Radio 2 breakfast show host Terry Wogan said: "What you saw was what you got. He was a gentle, good-humoured, even-tempered and extremely fine broadcaster and a very, very nice man."
"I know you're supposed to say these things about people when they pass on but in John's case it's entirely true. One feels a great loss that such a fine man has passed on and that we've lost such a fine presenter."
Previous BBC:
Previous Wogan:
BBC Online obituary:

2004-11-30: US National Public Radio (NPR) host Tavis Smiley has decided not to renew his contract with the network and is to broadcast his last show on December 16th according to an e-mail he sent to affiliate stations.
"It is with deep regret," he writes, "that I write to inform you of my decision to not renew my contract with NPR, which expires shortly… I wanted to contact you personally and immediately to express my gratitude to you and your staff for giving me the chance to be heard by your listeners. I know the ridicule many of you had to endure when you decided to take this journey with me by adding my program to your line-up. I will always be appreciative of your confidence and trust."
Smiley, the former Black Entertainment Television (BET) host who launched his NPR show in January 2002 (See RNW Jan 10, 2002), was indirectly critical of NPR in his e-mail but made no specific criticisms.
"With your support, I have come to care even more for public radio and its social, cultural and intellectual potential," he wrote. "Yet, after all that we've accomplished towards our goal of seeking a broader, more diverse and younger audience for public radio, NPR's own research has confirmed that NPR has simply failed to meaningfully reach out to a broad spectrum of Americans who would benefit from public radio, but simply don't know it exists or what it offers...In the most multicultural, multiethnic and multiracial America ever … I believe that NPR can and must do better in the future."
"I sincerely hope you understand my position. I thank you, again, for all of your support. With your help, this has been a remarkable journey, and I hope that in some small way I did my part to help make America better by the simple act of introducing Americans to each other."
Previous NPR:
Previous Smiley:

2004-11-30: UK media regulator Ofcom upheld only one complaint against radio and considered three others resolved in its latest programming complaints bulletin: It also lists three TV standards case upheld, another resolved and a further TV fairness and accuracy case resolved.
In addition it listed three more TV cases that were not upheld and, with no details listed, 208 TV complaints involving 157 items and 11 radio cases involving 11 items that were held to be not in breach or out of remit.
This last compares with 147 complaints concerning 131 items - 13 radio complaints concerning 13 items and 134 TV complaints concerning 118 items - that were held to be not in breach or out of remit in its last bulletin
The radio case upheld related to Restricted Service Licence holder Hilltown FM about which a complaint of swearing had been made: Hilltown said it was unable to extract data from the software used to record its output and so could not provide a recording.
This was in breach of the licence condition related to retention and production of warnings and Hilltown was warned that the matter would be held on record and taken into account in the event of any future licence application.
The resolved cases involved Foxy's Drivetime on Capital FM in which the host referred to "gyppos"; Steve Penk on Key 103 when he poked fun at people who stutter (attracting four complaints); and the BBC Radio 4 satire Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation in which the presenter said that BNP (British National Party) voters should be "shot in the back of the head (Attracting 70 complaints)."
In all cases the stations involved had apologised - Capital's managing director happened to be listening to the first show and spoke to the host who apologised during the same show; Key 1o3's programme director had spoken to Penk about the matter and he had personally apologised to one caller; and the BBC, although saying the comment was in no way meant to be taken seriously had accepted that the comment went too far.
Previous Ofcom:
Previous Ofcom complaints bulletin:

2004-11-29: This week we open our look at comment on radio with part of a trenchant guest commentary in Radio Daily News from Clever Wheeland who, after going through some of his personal history in and reactions to radio including his leaving XM after start-up team of producers, doesn't mince his words.
He describes terrestrial radio in Tampa where he is now living as "mediocre here as it is most places in America right now…There is little passion in the voices I hear... Very few people sound like they are genuinely having fun. It is hard to know whether anyone is live. Spoken content is all so generic that most everything could be voice tracked in advance"
… "Each element is predictable. Too many commercials are just flow-disruptive noise and barking. More than half the morning shows are syndicated."
And his verdict: "Broadcasters are caught up in protecting, homogenizing, justifying, reducing, centralizing, acquiring, and cloning. It is pretty obvious that more of them need to spend time paying attention to what people are willing to pay dearly for in order to get what they want."
…" Radio is losing listeners because it is no longer compelling and because many operators are in denial that audience departure to satisfying technology, superior quality, complete and commercial free continental delivery could render them extinct. If there is any doubt of this and if you are old enough to recall, history documents the AM music giants vanishing into thin air (pun intended) as audiences moved to stereo, no static FM.
After such a start the story from north of the border wasn't that much better: In the Montreal Gazette in a report entitled "Not your grandmother's radio" Kathryn Greenaway notes a fall in listening by the young in Canada- down according to Statistics Canada from 11.3 hours a week in 1999 to only 8.5 hours a week in the 12-17 demographic.
She then quotes John Henderson, a media-studies professor at Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario, as saying that it was obvious that the introduction of satellite radio to the country - currently in the hands of the Canadian regulator - would affect local radio and add, "Look at the sorry state of (local) radio right now. Massive corporate buyouts have resulted in homogeneous radio - a whole bunch of CHUMs."
He sees the current "homogenous" approach to radio programming as part of the reason the young are switching to other sources of music and continues, "I've heard XM Satellite Radio and I think it's a wonderful idea. People want to hear unsigned, independent artists. It harkens back to the 1960s when radio would take chances and play the flip side of the 45. It's wonderful to see someone trying to shake up radio."
His reaction to current terrestrial radio output was echoed by Joe Andrews, program co-ordinator of radio broadcasting at the School of Media Studies for Humber College in Toronto, who said, "People are not enjoying the homogenized programming out there. The consumer is hungry for variety." Andrews is. "Existing broadcasters have to rethink things."
But lest the satellite companies become complacent there was a note of caution from Boris Anthony who gets the music he wants on the Internet. "I listen to stuff that either my friends or people with similar tastes as mine are listening to," he said. "There is an enormous amount of music out there."
He adds that rather than go for satellite radio he'd prefer to wait for technology to improve enough to give him access to Internet radio via his mobile phone: "I see satellite radio as making a lot of money for a few people and being somewhat successful in our network-access-repressed society for the time being," Anthony said. " But I see no real importance in it. It doesn't really change anything but the delivery method and the business models of the content manufacturers."
We didn't find that much hope either in the Business Evolutionist in a posting by on "The Future of Radio" by Jon Strande that began, "Got an email from a friend, asking me what I thought about commercial radio. What I like, dislike? How they can attract a following? Can they? What's the future? I asked if I could reply in the form of a post... here it is... I don't call it commercial radio, I call it McRadio: ...the Alt Rock station in Albany plays the same songs by the same artists as the Alt Rock station in Wichita. Just like a burger at McDonalds, radio has become packaged and predictable."
"The reason for this is well known, the radio stations are essentially bought and paid for by the record companies through what is known as Payola. So, they aren't in the business of helping you and I enjoy music, they are in the business of making money... at the end of the day, organizations have to make money to stay in business, but if that is all that they care about, they will need to figure out a way to do without relying on people listening to the radio, because I don't think that the scheme will be available in 10 or 20 years."
In the thread that followed, Christopher Grove referred to the late John Peel and suggested that his show indicated "that there is a future for radio… His show was radically different from any other shows on that station, and that was the case for decades. So maybe the answer is just to break the formula. You can go all over the place, like he did, but he genuinely invested in groups and his show. Oh, and by all accounts was a very nice, selfless and not at all arrogant man. I went back to the UK a week or so ago, and I'd really wanted to listen to his show again."
A later response came from K. Todd Storch who proclaimed himself a General Sales Manager for a Susquehanna Radio Corp. radio station, noted the threat from new technology and commented "In fact, I'm an avid iPod freak" before continuing, "I've posted a number of times that the automobile holds the 'keys' to the full mainstream listener."
He suggested that one of the ways to meet the challenge of staying relevant to 12 - 24 year olds was "to do this is with multi-channel Internet streaming and Digital Broadcasting."
"Most stations will be digital within the next 3 to 5 years," he commented, "but the need for this conversion is now. With the digital capabilities, a station could broadcast multiple formats."
And the bottom line? "As long as advertisers are getting results from the medium, they will continue to place $'s."
After all that we were feeling rather gloomy and regret we did not see any really positive articles to redress the balance so that will have to be done via listening recommendations.
We start with BBC Radio 3 and this year's Service for Advent with Carols from the Chapel of St John's College, Cambridge which will air from 18:30-20:00 GMT next Sunday.
Sticking with uplifting - and upbeat music- our next choice comes from BBC Radio 2 and its Masters of Rock series that began last week with a look at Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys and continues this week (Thursday 21:00 GMT) with Ian Gillan and Deep Purple: Last week's programme is on the listen-again part of the web site until then.
Going for a laugh we move to BBC Radio 4 where we'd suggest the 18:30 slot on Wednesday for Getting Nowhere Fast and again on Friday for the Now Show.
For Drama we'd suggest BBC Radio 3 and last Sunday's Drama on 3, a dramatisation by Sony Award-winning playwright Robert Forrest of Vladimir Nabokov's novel Pale Fire: Next week the production (from 19:30 to 22:15 GMT) is Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee
For drama of lighter weight the Classic Serial on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday was Black Beauty by Anna Sewell dramatised by Katie Hims.
For history cum documentary we'd suggest the same station and The Archive Hour from last Saturday when in 150 Years of Winning the VC Sir Peter de la Billiere, the commander of British forces in the first Gulf War, tells the story of the Victoria Cross and explores the nature of courage.
And finally for what might even be considered the epitome of drama and documentary from BBC Radio 4 we have RADA: One Hundred Years On, a history of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in which Adrian Lester follows two students as they train in Britain's foremost drama school and compares their lives with those of their illustrious predecessors, including Lord Attenborough, Kenneth Branagh, Glenda Jackson, Richard Briers and Richard Wilson.
Previous Columnists:
Business Evolution - Jon Strande et al:
Montreal Gazette - Greenaway:
Radio Daily News - Wheeland:

2004-11-29: A Reuters-Billboard report has again taken up the story of the filing by Saul Levine, president of Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters, of a petition asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to amend its pending satellite radio rules to include an indecency provision.
Levine in the petition says the FCC is empowered to enforce indecency rules on satellite radio - he argues that is has already said it has to obey Equal Employment Opportunity and political broadcasting rules and policies.
He argues that the FCC can prohibit indecent broadcasts between 06:00 and 22:00 on satellite as it does for terrestrial broadcasts and says his case is strengthened because the spectrum is licensed rather than having been bought.
Legal experts, reports Reuters, say that the FCC does have the inherent right to regulate satellite radio transmissions but are unlikely to do so unless under political pressure and even then could fall foul of the First Amendment.
John Crigler, a communications attorney with Garvey, Schubert & Barer, said Levine's argument "won't be enough to persuade the FCC that it nevertheless should exercise that authority" and adds that the issue is "not whether or not the commission might have this latent authority but whether or not there is enough political impetus at this point to exercise that authority."
Even if there were, he continued, "It's the First Amendment that is the more severe limitation on what the FCC can do."
The report also quotes an un-named Senate staff member as noting that when the Supreme Court upheld the FCC's power to regulate indecency in the 1978 FCC v Pacifica case it cited the "pervasive" nature of free, over-the-air broadcasting to justify its ruling.
This argument he said fell down for satellite broadcasts, commenting, "Satellite radio is a paid service. You elect to have it, you elect to buy it and you elect to turn it on. It's something that you choose."
Previous FCC:
FCC v Pacifica - Supreme Court ruling:
Reuters report:

2004-11-29: The Indian government is coming under attack for wanting to take unrealistic amounts in licensing fees from the country's struggling FM radio industry.
Because of their current levels the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has said that unless there are changes the industry cannot survive and recommended that the system be changed from the current one of fixed fees to a 4% share of revenue for existing players and also for the second phase of licences due to be issued for smaller towns and cities.
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry however has objected to the proposal on the grounds that it will produce a sharp fall in revenues and also that it would be difficult to monitor the revenues of up to 400 licensees and could lead to litigation over revenues and the definition of what is gross revenue when varying parts of the operation are outsourced to other companies and advertising agencies.
The Indian government issued 108 licences but only 21 stations are currently operational: One broadcaster has already closed down and two others have said they will close.
In the 2003-2004 financial year, the industry lost INR 120 crore (USD 26.7 million - a crore is 10 million) but the government collected INR 100 crore (USD 22.2 million).
Previous Indian Radio:
Previous TRAI:
TRAI web site (Links to 63kb PDF of its recommendations):

2004-11-28: The main regulatory story last week was again that of indecency penalties in the US where the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) agreed a USD 3.5 million settlement of all current indecency complaints with Viacom - excluding the case of Janet Jackson's breast - and also slapped a maximum penalty on Beasley Broadcasting: Elsewhere matters were more routine.
In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) has approved a number of radio licence additions. In order of state they include:
New South Wales:
In the Bega area it is proposing extend the licence area of community radio service 2BAR Bega to include the townships of Candelo, Bermagui and Tura Beach. It is to specify the effective radiation power (ERP) of the service at 1 kW, a level it considers will provide an adequate signal to the primary townships in the extended licence area.
The 2BAR service has operated for two years initially on an ERP of 2 kW but this was lowered to 350 W after a field survey conducted by the ABA showed that this reduced power level was adequate to serve the licence area.2BAR has requested the ABA extend its licence area to include those townships which received the service when it operated at the higher ERP of 2 kW.
In the Nowra area it is to make FM capacity available for the commercial radio service 2ST Nowra at St Georges Basin and Kangaroo Valley to rectify reception deficiency within its licence area and also made FM channel capacity available for an additional community radio service in Sanctuary Point. The ABA will call for applications for this radio service soon.
In Port Stephens it is proposing to make FM channel capacity available for commercial service 2HD Newcastle and five national radio services. Submissions on these plans have to be in by December 17.
In Wagga Wagga, it is proposing to increase the power of a proposed open narrowcasting service and also proposes technical specifications for the 2AAA service for operation at an alternate site, which the ABA believes will resolve reception difficulties for the service. Comments on the plan have to be made by December 10.
Queensland:
The ABA is proposing to power increase from 10 watts to 50 watts for the proposed new commercial radio services at Biloela . Comments on this have to be submitted by December 3.
Victoria:
The ABA is proposing to make channel capacity available for the commercial radio service 3SEA Warragul at Traralgon to rectify reception deficiencies in the Traralgon and Morwell area: It would make 97.9MHz on the FM band available for a transmitter at Tyers that would operate at a maximum ERP of 500W towards Morwell and Traralgon with a maximum 50W towards Sale to minimize overspill.
Acting ABA Chair Lyn Maddock commented, "The ABA's proposal will not only rectify the reception deficiencies but also limit signal overspill to acceptable levels into parts of the Sale commercial radio licence area that are not located within the overlap region."
Comments on the proposals have to be in by December 17.
In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has approved a number of new licences that included (In order of province):
New Brunswick:
*Approval of new 76,000 watts English-language commercial Classic Rock FM radio station in Fredericton.
*Approval of new 25 watts specialty English-language commercial Christian music FM radio station in Fredericton.
*Approval of new 50 watts low-power English-language tourist information service in Fredericton subject to the finding of a suitable frequency.
*Approval of new 40,300 watts English-language commercial news/talk FM in Moncton.
*Approval of new 30,000 watts French-language Type B community FM radio station in Moncton.
*Approval of new 19.5 watts low-power tourist information English-language service in Moncton subject to the finding of a suitable alternative frequency.
Newfoundland:
*Approval of new 79,000 watts specialty English-language News/Talk commercial FM radio station in Saint John.
*Approval of new 1,850 watts French-language Type A community FM radio programming undertaking in Saint John.
Nova Scotia:
*Approval of new English language news/talk 22,100 watts commercial FM in Halifax.
*Approval of new specialty 78,000 watts English-language Youth Contemporary FM radio station in Halifax.
*Approval in part of new 100,000 watts English-language commercial easy listening FM radio station in Halifax. The frequency proposed for this conflicts with that for a new Youth Contemporary FM approved (above) and approval is subject to a suitable alternative frequency being found.
*Approval of new 5,000 watts specialty English-language commercial Christian music FM radio station in Halifax.
* In a note of dissent concerning the Halifax licence awards Commissioner Jean-Marc Demers said he felt that given the circumstances of the Halifax radio market, broadcasting quality would be more effectively ensured by issuing new licences in stages.
Accordingly he would have issued only one licence - to Astral Radio Atlantic Inc. for its proposed alternative/modern rock format - rather than the four approved. He pointed out that the addition increased the number of commercial stations in the market by 57% and added, "I believe it would be preferable to issue a single licence, and to give the Halifax applicants, and any other interested party, an opportunity to participate in a further licensing process in the near future. In my opinion, to deny local investors the opportunity, for a prolonged period, to hold a licence is not in the public interest."
The CRTC also noted that a total of 13 other applications for licences in the above areas were rejected.
It also published a list of transfers of ownership and control authorized between September 1 and October 31.
Radio-related approvals included:
*Corporate re-organization of CKMW Radio Ltd. and Dufferin Communications Inc. through the transfer of the effective control of CKMW-AM and CKDX-AM , owned directly and indirectly by William Evanov, to Evanov Radio Group Inc.
*Changes to the ownership and effective control of 1311831 Ontario Limited, licensee of CKTR-FM North Bay, which is now equally owned by Mr. Christopher Thompson, Mr. Steven M. Dreany and Mr. Timothy Bertrand. Its board of directors will control the licensee
The CRTC also published a public notice, with a deadline for interventions of December 29 that included:
*Application by Rogers Broadcasting Limited to renew the licence of the English-language radio network, which expires 31 December 2004, that will broadcast the baseball games of the Toronto Blue Jays during the 2005 season, originating from CJCL-AM, Toronto.
*Application by La radio campus communautaire francophone de Shawinigan inc. to change the frequency of CFUT-FM Shawinigan.
There were no radio announcements in Ireland and the UK was fairly quiet although Ofcom has now posted full details of the three applicants for the new Kidderminster licence (a total of 4.64 Mb of PDFs).
Ofcom also published details of its strategic review of spectrum management that aims to securing the optimal use of the civilian radio spectrum. Comments are invited with a deadline of February 15, 2004.
Ofcom is proposing a market-based approach rather than the former centralized system that is says has "resulted in an inefficient system which has limited the innovation and development of higher-value services."
It says it also intends to increase the amount of licence-exempt spectrum but notes that, although its market-led approach should eventually go up to include 70% of radio spectrum - currently it applies to none of it - there will continue to be Ofcom regulation in relation to signals that cross international boundaries, where there are international regulations on harmonization of spectrum use, and where there may be interference.
Ofcom Chief Executive Stephen Carter said, "Broadcasters and telecommunications providers are rapidly moving towards a digital future" and added, "This market-led approach to spectrum management will reward innovation and extract the maximum value for customers from this important resource."
In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auction 37 of new FM licences, the commission's first-ever open auction of FM broadcast spectrum, ended with 110 bidders winning 258 construction permits with the total bid coming to USD 147.4 million (See RNW Nov 24): Similar auctions are to be held annually over the next few years.
Commenting on the auction FCC Chairman Michael Powell said, "We are in new territory with this groundbreaking auction, introducing new owners into the radio market and bringing increased diversity through new FM radio stations to cities and towns that have not had their own local stations. By placing small businesses on equal footing with other bidders at the auction stage, our policies ensure that more owners have the opportunity to become pioneers in the dynamic media marketplace. I would like to congratulate both the Media and Wireless Bureaus for their hard work in making this auction a success."
The week also saw the US Senate approve a second term on the Commission for Jonathan S. Adelstein and further indecency and technical penalties applied. The main activity was the USD 3.5 million settlement with Viacom and imposition of a USD 55,000 maximum penalty on Beasley Broadcasting (See RNW Nov 24th): The FCC also issued penalties relating to broadcasting phone calls without gaining prior permission and cut by 90% on grounds of inability to pay the penalty on a New Jersey pirate station operator (See RNW Nov 25th).
Previous ABA:
Previous Adelstein:
Previous Carter:
Previous CRTC:
Previous FCC:
Previous Licence News:
Previous Maddock:
Previous Ofcom:
Previous Powell:
ABA web site:

CRTC web site:
FCC web site:
Ofcom web site:

2004-11-28: British radio broadcasters and manufacturers are now getting into full swing in promoting digital radio in the run up to the holiday season.
In the public sector the BBC next week launches a five week campaign with a series of TV spots promoting its digital radio services through a series of trails set in a computer-generated world where people come face-to-face with representations of the radio content they want to hear; from rock music (represented by a storm cloud) and sport (a giant football) to easy listening (a swarm of butterflies), comedy (a jelly man) and hip-hop (giant headphones).
Amongst the commercial radio companies GWR-owned Classic FM is selling a range of branded digital receivers made by Roberts Radio that will have a button to automatically tune into Classic FM.
Also involved in a promotional deal is MXR Digital, the consortium owned by Capital Radio , Chrysalis Radio, Guardian Media Group and the Ford Motor Co, which has teamed up with Pure Digital to give away a receiver a day from the start of December until Christmas Eve. The promotions will run on UBC's Classic Gold and Capital Radio's Capital Gold and will feature presenters describing features of Pure's range of receivers.
In Germany, UBC's Unique Interactive division in partnership with DeutschlandRadio, and network operator Bayern Digital Radio, recently demonstrated broadcasts of its DAB Electronic Programme Guide during the recent WorldDAB Radio Programmers and Munich Media Days Conferences. The trial was the first ever broadcast of a DAB Digital Radio EPG in Germany.
On the technical side of DAB, Atmel Corporation has announced a new processor that it says will provide maximum flexibility and an extremely low current consumption at a low price and provides a wide variety of supported interfaces both for control functions and data including USB and RDI.
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2004-11-28: The move to Spanish-language formats in the US seems to be gathering pace with smaller players as well as Clear Channel, which announced its Spanish-language initiative in September (See RNW Sep 17), making moves to expand Spanish programming.
Set to switch sometime in December is business news format KNWX-AM in Seattle, whose USD 6 million sale to Bustos Media by Entercom became public in July (See RNW Jul 19) and has now been approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The station's web site has already been closed down.
Since then Bustos has bought eight stations in Washington State from Butterfield Broadcasting for USD 6.7 million (See RNW Aug 18) and USD 21.7 million to acquire two California stations owned by Aztec Media Inc. and Maya Media, LLC.(See RNW Sep 1)
In Seattle, KNWX is to become KDDS-AM, call letters based on the contemporary regional Mexican " LaGrand D " that Bustos airs in Portland, Oregon, and Salt Lake City (Utah).
In Las Vegas, Clear Channel flipped KWID-FM from hip-hop to its "La Preciosa" Spanish format earlier this month and is due to start bringing in DJs from tomorrow after running music-only: It is due to introduce adverts from Monday next week.
In Virginia, 4M Communications, which owns five AMs including Spanish-language WVNZ-AM, has just announced their sale for around USD 4 million to New York-based Davidson Media Group LLC. That specializes in stations targeting Hispanic audiences. Although it is currently saying there are no plans to change the formats of the other stations - gospel and Christian music WREJ-AM, talk WTOX-AM, and simulcast Big Band Music duo WLEE-AM and WHAP-AM.

2004-11-27: Sirius satellite radio, which has already positioned itself as a significant player in US sports broadcasting with rights including those for the National Football League (NFL) is now extending its tentacles wider with a deal with the UK Premier League to broadcast its soccer games.
The Premier League says it considers the broadcasts, due to start immediately, a crucial factor in its strategy to break into the US market whilst for Sirius it should drive subscriptions amongst British expatriates and Hispanics in the US. A number of top English clubs including Manchester United and Chelsea have toured the US in recent leagues in an attempt to raise the profile of soccer in the US where various past attempts to make soccer a major game have come to little.
The deal, reported to be worth around GBP 1 million (USD 1.9 million) was sealed by sports marketing agent TWI.
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2004-11-27: Chrysalis-owned talk station LBC has bought the radio rights to the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, formerly held by the BBC for 78 years. The deal runs for five years starting with next year's race on March 27.
The race itself began in 1829 at Henley-on-Thames and moved to its current course from Putney to Mortlake in 1845: It was first broadcast on BBC radio in 1926 and the main commentator on the race - from 1931 to 1980 was the late John Snagge.
The radio deal ends the BBC's run of links with the race: It lost the TV rights to commercial TV this year.
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2004-11-27: Only one significant bid in the latest US auction of FM frequencies that closed last week (See RNW Nov 24) has gone to a public broadcaster: Boston-based WGBH is to pay USD 3.9 million for a licence in Brewster, Massachusetts.
WGBH already broadcasts to parts of Cape Cod through WNAN-FM and WCAI-FM based in Woods Hole but its coverage missed out an area from Hyannis to Provincetown, a hole that will be plugged by the new frequency when it gets to air in the Fall of next year if all goes to plan.
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2004-11-27: California State University jazz station KKJZ-FM will go silent for around six hours on December 7 for an upgrade of its transmitter that will increase its power to 30,000 watts from its current 6,500 watts.
KKJZ is also upgrading its studios and has already raised around half the USD 250,000 the combined works will cost.
To tie in with the upgrade it is launching an online promotion- with prizes including an I-Mac and an I-pod for online listeners - that it hopes will aid its fund raising to help pay for the improvements.
KKJZ is also to go international through direct broadcast satellite to Japan: It is one of five US stations whose signal will be on the Mobile Broadcasting Corporation (MBCO) satellite that will offer some 50 audio channels that can be received by suitably equipped digital devices including car and portable receivers, PDAs and mobile phones.
Station General Manager Judy Jankowski, who notes that the station is also to convert to HD transmissions, said of the changes, "At 6,500 watts, KKJZ's signal doesn't have the clarity and robustness that jazz listeners need and deserve."
"It's all about our listeners," Jankowski says. "This station is on everyone's top 10 list because it is jazz at its best. KKJZ helps define the genre because of the quality of the music and the people who play it, and the wonderful support we receive in turn from our audience."

2004-11-26: UK Capital Radio has reported group revenues and underlying profits before tax in its preliminary results for its fiscal year to the end of September each up 4% - to GBP 119.9 million (USD 221.3 million) and GBP 23.7 million (USD 42.5 million): Analogue radio profit was up 11% to GBP 29.1 million (USD 52.2 million).
However, like other UK radio groups reporting recently, it has warned of a downfall in the current quarter because of "slow down in spend among key advertisers, particularly FMCG clients."
October revenues were down 7%, November is expected to be down 5% and December is "likely to be down marginally year on year" says Capital, which adds, "We remain optimistic about the prospects for radio in general and believe that it will continue to outperform the display advertising market for the foreseeable future."
Commenting on the year's results Chief Executive David Mansfield said, "In 2004, we delivered the Group's best year on year growth performance for four years and retained commercial brand leadership in the important London market. We continue to strengthen our brands and we will be stepping up our investment in Xfm and Choice FM during 2005. Despite a tough advertising quarter, we remain confident in the prospects for radio."
Regarding the group's planned merger with GWR, he like GWR chairman Ralph Bernard (See RNW Nov 24) referred to it in terms of competition with the BBC, commenting, "We believe our proposed merger will bring benefits to listeners, advertisers and shareholders and leave us well positioned to compete more effectively against the BBC."
Capital also commented on its lobbying on this matter, saying, "This was a challenging year for commercial radio as a resurgent BBC achieved the highest share of listening that it has ever enjoyed under RAJAR. We believe that the BBC's programming should be complementary to commercial TV and radio and thus create a more level playing field and greater consumer choice."
"Consequently, we are working hard with the government to ensure that the BBC charter renewal benefits the listener and the viewer and we are encouraging the Department of Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and Ofcom to examine the BBC's public service remit."
Capital, which in April launched its Capital FM Breakfast Show with Johnny Vaughan (See RNW April 18), with, it says "encouraging results among women and younger listeners, is also turning some of its attention to its smaller London stations Xfm and Choice
Capital says it has saved a continuing GBP 2 million a year by dropping sports commentaries and it is to spend GBP 1.5 million (USD 2.3 million) in marketing the Xfm and Choice brands, a doubling of its expenditure in this area.
It says that during the year it continued its "strategy of growing a portfolio of complementary national brands with strong local appeal. This strategy has been most apparent in the key London market where we completed the acquisition of Choice FM… cross London, in an increasingly competitive marketplace, the Group maintained its commercial leadership position, supported by encouraging performances from Xfm and Choice FM."
Choice says Capital has increased its revenues by a fifth since acquiring the station completely in March in a deal announced in November last year (See RNW Nov 20, 2003) and Xfm, which is now sold to advertisers as a national station - around a seventh of its 679,000 listeners come from digital platforms rather than its London analogue signal, also saw its revenues rise by a similar amount.
Concerning Choice it notes is has been allowed " to unify the output of Choice FM's two London licences into one consistent schedule and we believe that this, along with increased investment in the brand, will enable us to realise its potential and build Choice into the major urban music station for London."
"Our ambition," says Capital, "is to attract new listeners by raising awareness and becoming more accessible whilst maintaining our relevance to the community we serve. Longer term, our aim is to grow nationally through new platforms to become the UK's leading urban music brand."
Of its digital only output, Capital says listening to Life is not yet measured by RAJAR but Capital Disney has seen a promising start, "growing its reach among the 4+ age group to 248,000 listeners in the most recent RAJAR figures."
Outside London Capital says it has seen "considerable success" at its Century FM network - revenues were up 35%- and is "seeing early success from the national growth of Xfm and Capital Gold" but it notes that revenues fell at the Capital FM Network.
For the longer term, Capital notes that the radio industry has become more competitive as increasing digital convergence has brought radio into closer competition with a range of different media from iPods to mobile phones to broadband internet.
"A key driver of the evolution of the radio industry" It comments, "is the advent of digital radio, which has led to a sharp increase in the number of services available to the listener and brought new opportunities and challenges for broadcasters and advertisers… We are committed to the development of digital radio and believe that it presents new opportunities for growth by increasing our audiences, by delivering new revenue streams through data services and by allowing us to have direct and interactive dialogue with our listeners."
Regarding its planned merger with GWR, it comments, "With a more focused investment in talent and resources, particularly in the digital future, we believe that this merger will enable us to attract more listeners and compete more effectively against the BBC. The Merger is conditional on regulatory approval and is currently being examined by the OFT and Ofcom. Their views are likely to be published before the end of the calendar year."
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2004-11-26: The Florida Supreme Court has postponed a decision on whether it will hear conservative talk host Rush Limbaugh's appeal against a court order that would allow his medical records to be used as evidence in a potential doctor-shopping case against him.
In a statement released just before it closed for the Thanksgiving Holiday the court gave Limbaugh's lawyers until December 20 to file written arguments: There will then be a further 20 days for a response from prosecutors.
Limbaugh's medical records were seized in November last year by prosecutors using search warrants after learning that he had received around 2,000 painkillers from a pharmacy near his Palm Beach mansion using prescriptions from four doctors over a six month period. Doctor shopping - using multiple prescriptions to increase drug supplies but not letting individual doctors know about the other supplies prescribed - is an offence in Florida.
Limbaugh's appeal against the seizure of the records, which have been sealed whilst appeals continue, was rejected by Florida's 4th District Court of Appeal, which referred the case up to the Supreme Court for the latter to decide if to hear an appeal (See RNW Nov 18)
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Florida Supreme Court brief ( 50 KB PDF):

2004-11-26: Transworld publishers are to publish the autobiography of the late DJ John Peel in the autumn (Fall) next year but already unofficial biographies are being rushed out with the first in shops in the UK this week.
Peel had signed a deal worth up to GBP 1.6 million (USD 3 million) for his autobiography following a bidding war in 2003: It has not yet been announced who will complete the work.
Transworld managing director Larry Finlay told the BBC, "There will be a book, obviously a different boo, from the one we wanted, coming next autumn."
He refused to reveal exactly what the book would include, saying there would be an announcement next week but Transworld said of the unofficial biographies it was "sad" they had been rushed out and not what Peel or his family would have wanted.
A spokesman for Orion Books, publisher of the unauthorized biography "John Peel: A Tribute to the Hugely Popular DJ and Broadcaster" that was written by rock journalist Mick Wall said, "When someone dies, that's when you reflect on their life. "The extraordinary response to John Peel's death and the huge amount of media coverage showed in how much affection and respect he was held, and how much people want to read more about him.
A second book "John Peel: A Life in Music by Michael Heatley" is to be out next week publisher, Michael O'Mara Books, commented on the controversy over rushing out publications, "Should we be ashamed of publishing the book so quickly?"
"No more than the TV companies that have already shown documentaries about Peel or the newspapers and magazines that have printed special features about the legendary DJ."
"Like them, we are producing something which people want - a tribute to a much-loved man."
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2004-11-26: Veteran US journalist and broadcaster Vic Sussman has died aged 65 after a career that spanned a wide range of media and other occupations.
His recent employer, American Public Media whose public radio business programme "Marketplace" he joined in January this year in its obituary quotes Marketplace General Manager Jim Russell as commenting, "Vic was a true Renaissance Man, a broadcaster, author, organic farmer, print reporter and editor, magician, runner, serious weightlifter, voracious reader and Web pioneer."
Sussman was born in New York and moved to Northern Virginia with his family when he was 16, becoming a DJ at Arlington country station WARL-FM.
In the mid 1960s he gained bachelors and masters degrees in communications from the American University and then worked at the university's station WAMU-FM as a reporter and producer.
For a while after that he and his then wife moved to a two-acre farm in Potomac, where he became a homesteading organic farmer and after he tired of that he worked for various media organisations including U.S. News & World Report and The Washington Post, as well as writing books and contributing articles to USA Today, Reader's Digest, Redbook, Glamour, Organic Gardening, Prevention, Runner's World and other newspapers and magazines.
He was an early adopter of the internet and was director of Internet programming for America Online from 1996-1997 and later served as director of interactive Web programming for Cahners Business Information including Variety, Publisher's Weekly and Broadcasting & Cable.
In the Washington Post obituary it notes that his career there ended on a malodorous note: He was forced out after a personality clash with an editor and someone put a rotten fish into an inter-office envelope and left it behind a filing cabinet in the editor's office.
Sussman was listed as the last user but denied responsibility, saying he wasn't "that stupid."
Marketplace obituary:
Washington Post obituary:

2004-11-25: Following its USD 3.5 million settlement of Viacom-Infinity's outstanding indecency complaints apart from the Super Bowl (See RNW Nov 24) the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has again been handing out penalties but on a very much smaller scale.
In Florida, it has reduced from USD 4,000 to USD 3,500 a penalty on Spanish Broadcasting System's WXDJ-FM, North Miami, over a hoax call from personalities Joe Ferrero and Enrique Santos of WXDJ to President Fidel Castro of the Republic of Cuba and four officials of the Cuban government.
The station did not deny making the call and recording it without giving notice of intention to broadcast it but sought a reduction on the grounds that it had told the President of its intention to broadcast after recording the conversation but before transmission. It also asked for the name of the complainant.
The Commission pointed out that the rules require prior consent to a recording and also that its rules specifically prohibited "the release of investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes where production of such records would "constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy" and said that this was the situation in this instance. It did however reduce the fine on the basis of a history of compliance.
In Missouri it is proposing a USD 4,000 penalty on Mid-Missouri Broadcasting, Inc., licensee of KOQL-FM, Ashland, for broadcasting a conversation with a gambling hotline counsellor from Life Crisis Services, Inc., which operates a gambling hotline for the State of Missouri, that was a prank call from the "The Cosmo & JC Radio Show."
Mid-Missouri admitted that it recorded and broadcast the telephone conversation as alleged in the complaint, and that it did not inform the hotline counsellor that the conversation was being recorded for broadcast but said the incident was an isolated one.
It also said it had taken the necessary steps to ensure that such incidents do not reoccur; that the radio personality responsible for the prank apologized publicly and on the air to the employee and Life Crisis Services; and that Mid-Missouri has provided a link to the Life Crisis Services hotline on its station website. The FCC said that action taken after the event was not relevant in deciding the penalty and opted for the USD 4,000 base forfeiture for such offences.
In New Jersey it reduced from USD 10,000 to USD 1,000 a penalty issued to Angelo ("Angel") Avena for operating an unlicensed FM transmitter. Avena had not denied the offence but provided financial details that led the commission to accept a plea of inability to pay and reduce the penalty.
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2004-11-25: BBC Radio 1 is to pay a tribute to late DJ John Peel who died of a heart attack while on holiday in Peru (See RNW Oct 27) with a night of live music to be broadcast from its Maida Vale studios from 19:00 GMT on December 16 until 01:00 the next day.
The evening, to be hosted by Steve Lamacq, will begin with a one hour documentary - Teenage Dreams So Hard To Beat - celebrating his life and featuring tributes from the Undertones, Orbital, The Cure, New Order, Supergrass, Robert Plant, Underworld, Siouxsie Sioux and the Buzzcocks.
This will be followed by three and a half hours of live music from bands championed by Peel including Underworld, The Wedding Present, Melys, Steveless, Trencher, Hefner, Stuart Murdoch, Graham Coxon and Nina Nastasia and others still to confirm.
After this the evening will be wrapped up by the DJs including Dynamite MC, Alex Patterson, Dave Clarke, Hixxy and Coldcut.
Lamacq commented of the evening, "It should be a really special night, for friends and family.
"Many of the bands and DJs who are coming down are part of Peel's extended musical family - and everyone's been terrifically helpful and enthusiastic in organising the show.
"I'll be anchoring the night but there will be guest DJs crashing the decks and people wandering in and out. We want it to be pretty spontaneous in honour of the Great Man."
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2004-11-25: Infinity Broadcasting has donated interviews covering much of the late Paul Muni's 31-year career at WNEW-FM to the Museum of Television & Radio.
Muni, who died on September 28 aged 74, began his radio career as a DJ on Radio Guam while with the Marine Corps before replacing Alan Freed in Akron and then moving to New York where he spent four years at WABC and three at WOR-FM before moving to WNEW.
Interviews in the collection feature amongst others all four of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Grateful Dead, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Sting, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe Walsh, Paul Simon and The Who.
Accepting this donation, Monique Fortuné, radio curator of The Museum of Television & Radio, said it was "vitally important to acknowledge and preserve the work of Scott Muni, a broadcast pioneer and a true innovator."
The museum already has some Muni tapes including interviews with John Lennon and the tribute to him broadcast by WNEW on the night he was killed.
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2004-11-25: Madison, Wisconsin, WTDY-AM host John "Sly" Sylvester has beaten a very limited retreat from an initial refusal to apology for a broadcast in which he called Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice an "Aunt Jemima" and outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell an "Uncle Tom".
After an initial reaction in which he said the only person to whom he had to apologise was Aunt Jemima, Sylvester has published an apology to blacks for the use of the term although he has not pulled back on his criticism of Rice.
In his letter posted on the station web site, Sylvester writes, "I'm concerned that I have offended many African Americans by using a crass term to describe an incompetent, dishonest, political appointee of the Bush administration."
"I apologize. I know the term "Aunt Jemima" is not complimentary to African American women who have worked so hard, and yet, receive so little from our great country."
"I will not, however, apologize for pointing out that while Condoleezza Rice has clearly enjoyed the American dream, she has allowed herself to be used as a black trophy by an administration who is working so hard to deny that dream to other African American women."
Sylvester then goes on to say that most of his programme criticized Rice for her "poor performance in her duties as National Security Advisor" but then at the end he used the Jemima description" because most accounts of her tenure in her current position insinuate that she has been a lackey for Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld."
Sylvester then details more of his criticism - he writes, " Condoleezza Rice has chosen to look the other way and work for an administration that has attempted to overturn affirmative action, appoint judges who refuse to enforce the civil rights laws that so many have died for, and I suspect she's never bothered to ask Dick Cheney about his countless votes against sanctions on apartheid when he was a congressman in the 1980s. I also suspect that she knows he voted against creating a federal holiday for the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr." - and the context in which it was made before commenting on "thousands of e-mails" received from round the country.
"Some compare my remarks to Mark Belling's comments referring to Hispanics as 'wetbacks'[See RNW Nov 9]," he writes. "Nothing could be further from the truth. While I support Mark Belling's right to say what he did, his remarks were meant to spread resentment against an entire group of people who happened to be Hispanics living on the south side of Milwaukee."
"Other e-mails I've received have accused me of attacking Rice because she's a black conservative, that's not true either. My criticism of her is based on her performance in her job and her ridiculous assertion that the Bush Administration has an impeccable record on civil rights."
Sylvester has also posted on his site some of the voice messages he has received. They also range widely and there are not enough to judge how far they are representative but those posted show women in general being less harsh in the tone of their comments on either side of the argument, a significant degree of support from black males, and a conservative male response ranging from one mild spoken caller the says he is most distressed" and casts the host's remarks as worse than those of Belling to a number who quickly descend into abuse with comments describing the host as a "little punk-ass, dipstick", and also calling him a "racist asshole" and adding "Shove it, you moron!"
RNW comment: The person who has come out of this affair best so far is Mid West Broadcasting's general manager, Tom Walker who has said that he doesn't agree with or like the comments made but is resisting calls for heavy handed discipline of the host.
Judging by some of the comments that have been made he is also likely to fall foul of the more vindictive and mean-minded in the Stalinist faction of the US right wing for a defence of free speech that at one time when they were criticizing Soviet repression of freedom of speech they'd have been all for.
One of Sylvester's callers, who felt that Rice was much more intelligent than the host suggested that he would fare badly debating the matter with her: We regard it as rather a pity he won't have the chance - with use of epithets barred since we regard these as serving no function as we commented at the end of our Nov 22 report - but maybe he should open his show up to some of the NAACP leaders who have criticized his comments and have a proper debate on the matter.
We would also disagree with comments that compare this episode with the remarks of Mark Belling: The latter involved disparagement of a racial group with no supporting evidence whilst this one, albeit we think the disparaging generalities used should not have been, was in the nature of criticism of individuals whose performance has been regarded by commentators from various parts of the political spectrum as having serious weaknesses in terms of achievements.

WTDY web site - Sylvester response page:

2004-11-24: Viacom and the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have agreed a USD 3.5 million consent decree that settles outstanding indecency complaints against it excluding the USD 550,000 penalty related to the Janet Jackson mammary-cum-covered nipple incident during the Super Bowl half time show.
It includes radio cases such as the USD 375,000 penalty proposed against former WNEW-FM, New York, syndicated hosts Opie & Anthony (Gregg Hughes and Anthony Cumia) who were taken off the air in August 2002 -- they are now on XM - for their "Sex for Sam" stunt in St. Patrick's Cathedral (See RNW Aug 24, 2002), the USD 27,500 penalty against WKRK-FM, Detroit, duo Deminski & Doyle for sexually graphic comments broadcast (See RNW Apr 4, 2003), and the USD 7,000 penalty imposed for an episode of "The Last Damn Show" on WLLD-FM, Holmes Beach, Florida.
It also involves a number of cases where letters of inquiry had been sent about alleged indecency violations by Viacom and some affiliates of the CBS Television Network and UPN.
Viacom issued a statement saying, "We have now resolved all outstanding matters before the FCC related to indecency except for the Super Bowl. While we deeply regret the incident involving Janet Jackson, we believe that a government fine for an unintentional broadcast is unfair and unwarranted, and we are challenging that decision."
As part of the agreement, Viacom admits that some of the material that it broadcast was indecent and in addition to the USD 3.5 million payment to the U.S. Treasury, Viacom is required to implement a company-wide Compliance Plan aimed at preventing future violations.
The agreement also says that in cases of future breaches that lead to a notice of apparent violation all employees materially involved in the airing are to be suspended and an investigation undertaken by Viacom and remedial training be given to all these employees; if there is a subsequent forfeiture order, further disciplinary action is to be taken against the staff that may include dismissal.
In addition after any staff involved resume works their broadcasts are to be subjected to delays and their content monitored by editors.
Viacom has also to purchase and install delay equipment for both radio and TV broadcasts so as to allow it to exclude indecency from going out during "potentially problematic live programming."
Separate statements were issued relating to the decision by three of the commissioners- Jonathan S. Adelstein, Michael J, Copps and Kevin J. Martin.
Adelstein commented that through the agreement Viacom had "renewed its commitment to prevent the broadcast of indecent material on its stations" but then added a note of warning, saying, " Given Infinity Broadcasting's history with the Commission, we will expect strict adherence to today's agreement.
Copps in his statement re-iterated his concern about such penalties in relation to licence renewals, saying, "The totality of a broadcasters' record is pertinent and should be considered when licenses are renewed. Today's decision takes an entire part of the record off the table. It is bad enough that our re-licensing process has degenerated to the point where the Commission generally does not even look at a station's public file or inquire further into the station's service to its community unless a citizen of that particular community brings an issue to our attention. Today, the Commission tells those citizens that some information is no longer relevant in evaluating a broadcaster's overall performance in its community."
I would also sound a cautionary note that the Commission has gone down this road before with Infinity Broadcasting, which is now part of Viacom. At that time, the Commission praised the steps Infinity took to ensure compliance with the indecency laws. Yet, today, we are once again settling numerous indecency complaints against Infinity and its parent company, Viacom. Going forward, I urge my colleagues to accord prompt and vigorous attention to any future listener or viewer complaints against this licensee."
Martin expressed concern that less was being required of Viacom than the Commission had demanded in previous settlements with Clear Channel and Emmis, noting that the "identical" agreements with these organisations, "require more concrete actions to protect against and deter the airing of inappropriate material in the future."
"By contrast, this consent decree," he wrote, "does not have all of these protections. I am concerned that this consent decree is significantly different and may be less of a deterrent for future violations. Moreover, by requiring less of Viacom than we have required of others, we may be treating those other companies unfairly."
The FCC has also issued a notice of apparent liability for a forfeiture of a maximum USD 55,000 against Beasley Broadcasting's WQAM-AM, Miami, concerning broadcasts of the "Scott Ferrall Show" on September 9 and 10, 2003.
In the first broadcast the host - who was dropped by the station in November last year - was involved in a heated exchange with an angry male caller that according to the complaint involved the host saying the caller would re raped and sodomized in prison, that while he was in jail Ferrall would "stuff his package into the caller's wife's mouth", would "do her daily" and then get his girlfriend to do her.
In the second broadcast the FCC said there was graphic and explicit description of child molestation that although coached in terms of innuendo were "nonetheless sufficient to render the material actionably indecent because the sexual import of those terms was 'unmistakable.'"
"Given the explicit references and graphic manner in which the broadcasts described the threatened actions that the host made to the caller and the reference to anal sex with a child," concluded the commission, "there is no non-sexual meaning that a listener could possibly have attributed to these terms."
It dismissed all of Beasley's arguments against the penalty and Commissioner Martin in a separate statement said that as he had said before broadcasters should be fined on a "per utterance " basis and that "In this instance, we could have found several violations within the broadcasts at issue and therefore could have assessed a larger fine."
Making things worse for Beasley, according to FMQB the caller - and complainant - involved was in question was Miami attorney and indecency crusader Jack Thompson.
He says that Beasley could face loss of its licence since it was fined for indecent broadcasts in 2000 and is also subject of further complaints over its current morning show, The Howard Stern Show.
FMQB quoted him as saying, "What should now follow is a criminal prosecution by the Justice Department of all individuals at Beasley responsible for this illegal activity, pursuant to 18 USC 1464, which provides for up to two years' imprisonment for the airing of indecent material."
"Whether more fines are levied or not, Beasley has proven today that it is a recidivist broadcaster of indecency which has arguably forfeited the privilege to own and operate under not only at WQAM-AM license frequency but also at other Beasley Broadcasting licensed frequencies."
In a number of other TV cases, involving Fox TV's "Keen Eddie" programme; WBDC Broadcasting, Inc., and other WB TV Network affiliates and the "Off Centre" programme; and NBC Telemundo and the "Coupling" programme, the FCC has dismissed complaints.
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FMQB web site:

2004-11-24: Sirius Satellite Radio says it has now exceeded 800,000 subscribers and it on track for a million by the end of the year; this compares with some 2.5 million existing subscribers for rival XM, which says it should reach 3 million by the end of the year.
Newly-appointed CEO Mel Karmazin commented, "SIRIUS is on a roll. We are very excited about this upcoming holiday season, now that we have such a wide array of innovative products on retail shelves. When you combine these new models with our programming initiatives such as the NFL, NBA, college sports, Eminem's 'Shade 45', Maxim Radio and, beginning in 2006, Howard Stern, you can easily see why we believe SIRIUS is the gift of choice for the holidays."
Sirius shares closed the day 12.4% up at USD 6.71, having at one stage touched a high of USD 6.95.
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2004-11-24: The US Federal Communications Commission 's FM Licence Auction 37 closed on Tuesday after 14 bidding days with a total of 110 bidders winning 258 permits at a total costs of USD 147,446,075 in addition to which a number of withdrawal payments will have to be added.
There were 456 qualified bidders in the auction, which ended at round 62 and the top five bidders were College Creek Broadcasting - 38 high bids totalling a gross and net USD 35,556,000; Bigglesworth Broadcasting - ten high bids totalling a gross USD 24,268,000, net USD 15,774,200; Kemp Communications - two high bids totalling a gross USD9, 703,000, net 8,880,250; Cumulus Licensing LLC - seven high bids totalling a gross and net 8,565,000; and Radioactive, LLC - 21 high bids totalling USD 13,159,000 gross and USD 8,553,350.
The highest single bid came from College Creek, of USD 7,131,000 for a permit in Mesquite, Nevada and the lowest successful bid we noted was from World Radio Link, Inc. with a bid of USD 5,500 gross, USD 4,125 net for a licence in Kotzebue, Alaska.
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2004-11-24: UK GWR chairman Ralph Bernard has accused the BBC of "disenfranchising" its traditional listeners in comments made at the release of its interim results.
These showed turnover in the six months to the end of September up 3.4% to GBP 61.3 million (USD 113 million), and underlying profit before tax, goodwill amortisation and exceptional items up 12% to GBP 6.9 million (USD 12.4 million) but revenues in October down 87%, those in November projected to be down 6.6% and those for December also expected to be down on a year earlier although Bernard said during the company's conference call he thought the period was a "blip" rather than representative of a long-term trend.
Finance director Wendy Pallot added that the third-quarter slowdown is likely to have a 'significant' impact on full-year results, commenting, "October and November are two of the biggest three months of the year, so I imagine they would have a significant impact on the results for the year."
Like-for-like analogue revenues were up 2.2% to USD 56.5 million (USD 101.3 million) with nearly four fifths of this from GWR's local radio group, where advertising revenues were up 1.6%. National station Classic FM saw national advertising revenues up 5.3%, revenue for Classic FM TV up 65% and Enterprises division revenues, which cover the Classic FM Magazine, live concerts and CD releases, up 12.3%.
Digital radio revenues were up 19.1% to GBP 4.7 million (USD 8.43 million).
Bernard's comments accompanying the release of the figures were heavily focussed on the BBC: He commented in his introduction, "The underlying strength of our core Local Radio Group stations, combined with growth at Classic FM, has increased the Group's underlying profitability during the past six months, despite the difficult trading conditions in August and September. During this period the radio advertising market has been increasingly competitive with consumer spending showing signs of slowing down and mounting audience pressure from BBC radio."
He then referred to the Corporation again in his comments about the planned merger with Capital Radio, commenting, "Over the last four years BBC radio has, without recourse to an external or independent regulator, successfully repositioned itself to appeal to commercial audiences. This has had a significant impact on all commercial radio operators and is an ongoing challenge to the industry."
"The GWR and Capital Radio merger will lead to more focused investment in talent and services, particularly in the digital arena, which will help grow the market and finally offer sustained competition to the BBC."
Bernard referred in particular to BBC Radio 2, which he said was no longer serving its traditional over-60 listeners in the daytime.
GWR shares ended the day down 4.13% and its merger partner Capital saw its shares drop 2.65%.
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2004-11-24: Entercom has now joined the ranks of US radio groups prohibiting its stations from working with independent record producers. The move follows a similar decision by Infinity last week (See RNW Nov 18) and Entercom President and CEO David J. Field in a memo to stations says that changes in the recording industry have adversely affected independent promoters over the past few years with the result that the "value of maintaining these relationships has diminished accordingly."
He notes that most Entercom stations already do not work with independent producers and adds that Entercom looks forward to enhancing its relationships with record labels.
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2004-11-23: UK UBC Media has reported turnover up 9.8% to GBP 7.15 million (USD 13.2 million) and profits before goodwill amortisation and development expenditure up more than two-and-a-half times from GBP 152,000 (USD 272,000) to GBP 551,000 (USD 988,000) in the half-year to the end of September.
Overall after development expenditure up just under 60% at GBP 798.000 it had a retained loss of GBP 438,000 (USD 785,000) down 44% on a year earlier.
It notes that its recently acquired business, Smooth Operations, has performed strongly in the two months since it took it over, that its production division has benefited from new digital customers and a strong growth in airtime sales with revenues up 22.9% on a year earlier to GBP 4.4 million (USD 7.9 million).
Its traffic and travel bulletins have done even better with revenues up 30.6% and it has just announced a deal to supply entertainment news to Emap stations, which already air its traffic and travel bulletins, in return for selling advertising sponsorship around the slot. The deal takes the number of stations airing UBC's entertainment news, which is also taken by Chrysalis and GWR stations, above 80.
CEO Simon Cole said UBC was "encouraged by the continued success of our production and commercial sales business, and are particularly pleased with the performance of Smooth Operations since we acquired it in July."
He also noted the rapid growth in digital radio purchases in the UK - the UK Digital Radio Development Board says nearly a third of UK households will have digital receivers by 2008 - and commented," our digital radio stations, digital data capacity and digital radio technology will all benefit from such rapid take-up… [We] are in a strong position to deliver for our shareholders as the digital radio revolution progresses."
UBC says advertising revenues in the current quarter are expected to be up 10% on a year ago.
Also in the UK, Capital Radio is expected to report a strong advance in profits on Thursday, boosted by improved ratings for its flagship London station Capital FM and a stronger performance for advertising revenues.
UBC's radio production division is to produce a New Year's Eve Show for BBC Radio 2 that will be hosted by former Capital FM breakfast host Chris Tarrant, returning to radio for the first time since he left the breakfast show.
The show, to air from 19:00 to 21:00 GMT, will feature Tarrant offering his views on 2004 through conversation with some of the people he believes have made it a year to remember and he commented, "This should be great fun. I've had a fantastic year and I know that lots of other people have as well."
The station's seasonal offerings will also include offerings from actor Christopher Lee and singer/songwriter George Michael. Michael will host a songwriting special on December 18th from 18:00 to 19:00 as part of Radio 2's Sold On Song initiative: It will feature Michael performing some of his hits and talking about how they came about.
Lee, in Christopher Lee's Fireside Tales airing from 23:45 to midnight GMT from December 27 to 30 will include work from WW Jacobs, Edgar Allan Poe, E Nesbit, Jerome K Jerome and Ambrose Bierce.
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2004-11-23: Radio One Inc. has taken a 51% controlling interest in host Tom Joyner's Reach Media Inc. for USD 56.1 million, around half of it in Radio One stock, in a deal that its President and CEO Alfred C. Liggins, III says has "catapulted Radio One into an integrated media company targeting the Urban marketplace."
Reach Media was founded by Joyner, its Chairman, and CEO David Kantor to run the Tom Joyner Morning Show and related businesses that were previously run in conjunction with ABC Radio Networks.
Radio One says Reach expects to report fiscal 2005 revenue of approximately $50 million and EBITDA of approximately $12.5 million, thus making Radio One's effective purchase price less than nine times 2005 expected EBITDA and Liggins commented, "In Urban media today there is no other company with a more diverse and focused asset base than Radio One's and there is no bigger personality than Tom Joyner. The combination of our nationwide distribution platform and the content machine of Tom Joyner will create a one stop shop for advertisers looking to reach the African-American marketplace."
Joyner and Kantor are signing new 10-year employment agreements with Reach, whose results will be consolidated with those of Radio One, which will take steps to syndicate Joyner's show on stations it owns in major markets in addition to the 15 stations it owns which currently syndicate the show. Overall Joyner's show is syndicated to around 115 US markets.
Kantor said of the deal, "The partnering of these two companies creates an African-American media powerhouse. Not only does this transaction create an enterprise with immediate significant local and national reach to our core consumers but the combined companies will capitalize on the vision we share for becoming the top platform in African-American targeted radio, television, Internet and events. This combination will make it easier for businesses to customize and extend their connection to the African-American community."
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2004-11-23: 2004 11 23: Bidding in the US Federal Communication Commission's FM licence auction 37 inched forward again on Monday, ending round 60 at the end of the day with a grand total of USD 179,462,500, up 0.8% from the round 54 total on Friday of USD 178,116,500.
Top bidder College Creek Broadcasting now has 38 Standing High Bids totaling USD 35,556,000 compared to 41 high bids totalling USD 42,725,000 at the end of last week: Its bids range from USD 70,000 for a licence in Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, to USD 7,131,000 for one in Mesquite, Nevada, both as on Friday and the Mesquite bid remains the highest single bid for a licence.
Second ranked Bigglesworth Broadcasting still has ten high bids totalling USD 24,268,000 that still range from USD 1,092,000 for a licence in Lockwood, Montana, to USD 6,765,000 for one in Pacific Junction, Iowa.
Third placed Radioactive, LLC has also seen no changes and still has 21 high bids totalling USD 13,159,000 also unchanged: Its bids range from USD 134,000 for a licence in Sac City, Iowa, to USD 2,695,000for one in Dannemora, New York.
Cumulus Licensing LLC in fourth place still has eight high bids totalling USD 10,026,000, down from 11 high bids totalling USD 12,399,000: Its bids range from USD 119,000 for a licence in St Paul, Arizona, as before, to USD 2,384,000 for one in Lennox, South Dakota.
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2004-11-23: Sydney station 2UE hosts John Laws and Steve Price and the station are to appeal a decision by the New South Wales Administrative Decisions Tribunal that ruled that they had "vilified homosexuals" during an on-air exchange in June last year.
During the broadcast both described the male couple Gav and Wazza (Warren Sonin and Gavin Atkins) from the reality renovation program The Block as "young poofs" leading gay activist Gary Burns to complain that the comments alleged the comments "incited hatred towards, serious contempt for, and severe ridicule of homosexuals".
In its ruling the Tribunal, which had ordered an apology or retraction, said the comments were "homosexual vilification within the meaning of the Anti-Discrimination Act" and "even if done in good faith and in the public interest (were) not reasonable", adding that given the position of Laws and Price as opinion makers, their comments were capable of "inciting others to more than mere mockery or derision ... [but also] to severe ridicule", which was a breach of the Anti-Discrimination Act.
2UE general manager Bob Miller said that no apology would be issued before the appeal process and told the Australian Associated Press, "The tribunal, in our view, has applied the law incorrectly in this case and made a wrong decision and so we would like to appeal it."
Price said the ruling was "a direct attack on free speech" and suggested talk show hosts "might as well pack up our microphones and all disappear into the night" and told listeners to his drive time show that in the original comments he had said he "did not need to be explaining to my children at 6.30 on a Sunday night what a gay relationship was. "It was occupying the timeslot once reserved for Disneyland and I couldn't believe that it had gay blokes renovating in their undies."
Laws is the subject of another complaint to the tribunal from Burns concerning comments he made about gay TV celebrity Carson Kressley whom he had termed a "pillow biter": In that case before the complaint was lodged he had paid for a full-page apology in the Sydney Star Observer newspaper.
Burn's solicitor Alexis Goodstone from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, said commentators had a responsibility not to breach anti-discrimination laws, adding, "People must realise that they can't just say anything they want on radio, that you've got to balance entertainment with being responsible in terms of what the community expects, which is not to vilify people based on their sexuality."
Sonin and Atkins said that while they had resolved the matter privately with the two radio broadcasters, they were pleased the tribunal had dealt with the issue and Atkins commented to the Sydney Morning Herald, "What really irks us is ... in the last 10 years there have been 37 murders recorded as gay hate related ... it is these sorts of comments that can be used in ratings that fuel that hatred."
RNW comment: Whatever the appeal decision, we cannot really see the point of an apology that has to be forced and in such circumstances will obviously be for form and not genuinely meant. If laws are to be made and enforced regarding inflammatory and discriminatory comments, we think the best response is to ensure that both sides of the argument can be put over.
Thus we feel a far better form of enforcement would be the power to order a significant segment of the hosts programme with a duration at least that of the segment of the original broadcasts that included the offending material be given over to a complainant and his or her representatives to make their case - with legal vetting, paid for by the station and hosts to ensure it stays within the law. We would also take the view that the time slot for any such rebuttal should be at the complainant's discretion so as to ensure that it cannot be buried. In the interests of free speech, the hosts, of course, should have the right to respond - within the same time limit or face more slots being put at the disposal of the complainant and under the clear understanding that a reaction that repeated the offence would lead a future programme in which the complainant would have the right to do what they wished with the show apart from a rebuttal time for the host.
The show would have to be at a date of the complainant's choosing so as to give time to prepare their programme and the station, of course, to level the playing field, would legally have to give appropriate training and technical assistance.
If nothing else, it would force hosts to temper bigotry or face having to justify it publicly.

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2004-11-23: The US Senate yesterday approved Democrat Commissioner Jonathan S Adelstein's second term at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
President Bush nominated him last week (See RNW Nov 17) and the Senate Commerce Committee then approved the nomination (See RNW Nov 19).
Adelstein's first term expired last year but current rules allowed him to remain in the post until Congress adjourns this year.
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2004-11-22: For this week's look at print comment on radio, we have again concentrated on hosts but more on those who have aroused criticism than praise following a number of recent incidents and stunts.
We begin with comment from the Rich Copley in the Lexington Herald-Leader about the recent future when the Z-Rock (WXZZ-FM) morning team told their listeners that the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council had passed an ordinance banning smoking in private vehicles (See RNW Nov 12).
The heading, "Radio hoax threatens station's integrity" summarises the gist of the article but it begins in a little lighter vein that then led to the serious import: "Pranks like this are actually a tradition of album-rock radio. Here's my favourite: In my hometown of Virginia Beach, Virginia, there's a city park called Mount Trashmore because it's built on a landfill. It's actually a really nice park, great for sledding when it snows.
"On April 1, 1992, the crew at WNOR, the top rock station in town, told listeners that because of a build-up of methane gas, Mount Trashmore was about to explode. We were warned to beware of "flying dirt clods."
"Mount Trashmore is in a highly populated area near some really busy roads. So, think about the effect of a top-rated radio station broadcasting faux news about a potentially catastrophic explosion during the morning commute."
"That incident and a few others prompted the Federal Communications Commission to enact an anti-hoax regulation that imposes a USD 25,000 fine if a station knowingly broadcasts false information possibly resulting in injury, property damage or needless use of emergency personnel."
…" But when you go on the air with something like that, you need to consider potential, unintended consequences. The smoking ban has made a lot of people angry. What if this faux news was taken seriously by an irrational person who decided a ban on smoking in cars was the last straw, so he went down to City Hall and harmed Mayor Teresa Isaac or other government employees?"
…" But real news is sort of the issue here. Consider this fantastic report that stretches the bounds of credulity: Two airliners strike both towers of the World Trade Center."
"Now, think what would happen if you heard this on a radio station that had recently told you about a bogus city ordinance or erroneously said a public park was about to blow up…"

There was criticism of a different nature for conservative host Rush Limbaugh who came under attack from mental health officials in South Florida for a mocking offer of "free therapy" for traumatized Kerry voters.
A report by Sean Salai in the Boca Raton News, which had earlier reported that more than 30 Kerry supporters in South Florida had contacted the non-profit American Health Association (AHA) following the Kerry concession, noted that the AHA had diagnosed the disorder as Post Election Selection Trauma (PEST) and have scheduled the first of several free group therapy sessions for just after Thanksgiving.
Limbaugh picked up the story and commented… "if anybody on the left wants some serious therapy here and counselling, I'm more than willing to offer my assistance."
When accused of rubbing it in the face of Democrats by AHA executive director Rob Gordon he responded, "Now, my friends, I didn't do that. I reached out. I offered a hand of friendship. I offered my own counselling services."
AHA officials described Limbaugh's tone of voice as sarcastic and it brought up some pained responses with AHA licensed clinician Sheila Cooperman describing the upset Democrats' symptoms as "a legitimate syndrome or disorder within the trauma spectrum," according to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and adding, "Rush Limbaugh has no clinical qualifications to counsel anyone. He's not only minimizing PEST, but he's bastardising the entire psychological field and our clinical expertise."
RNW comment: We rather suspect Limbaugh will have no concerns at all about the criticism - after all he doesn't seem very concerned about US soldiers torturing prisoners or shooting an injured insurgent - but more to the point suspect most of his audience will go along with him. One presumes that the host didn't object to mockery when he was the afflicted!
And Limbaugh, if not afflicted, could certainly be affected by Republican dominance of the US according to a Paul Farhi report in the Washington Post that opines that the result of the election "could be a disaster for the nation's right-wing talk-show hosts."
"Election Day was a triumph for conservatism," writes Farhi, "but it may have been a mixed blessing for the people who yak about it on TV and radio."
"Conservative talk, by far the most popular kind on the airwaves, has always traded on an undercurrent of grievance, a sense of being the underdog against the implacable, oppressive forces of liberal 'elitism.' The farther conservatives were from power, the better the Us-vs.-Them model worked."
"The right-wing media matured and prospered under Democrat Bill Clinton, whose two terms in office were a gift that kept on giving to the Limbaughs, G. Gordons, Savages and lesser lights of the electronic right…
"But now? Now the big pinatas of the left -- the Kerrys, Michael Moore, gay marriage -- have all been smited. Now the underdog is the overlord of . . . well, just about everything. What's a right-wing diss jockey supposed to rant about now?"
After a little post-election gloating, he continues, mentioning the mocking of Kerry supporters noted above, "The new targets could be fellow Republicans, and the talk-show hosts who love them."
He quotes Laura Ingraham, whose show is heard on 290 stations nationwide and who has been attacking Pennsylvania Republican Sen Arlen Specter, who enraged conservatives by suggesting that Bush would have trouble getting antiabortion judges confirmed by the Senate, as saying, "I've said if Republicans start acting like Democrats, we can find ourselves in the minority."
"This is the time when all the fun begins. "I think it's liberating to be in this post-election period . . . The talk-radio audience can only live off Teresa Heinz Kerry for so long. It becomes rote. The campaign is fun and exciting, but now we're going to move on to new meat."
Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida who now hosts MSNBC's nightly "Scarborough Country," says the challenge for conservative hosts will be to prove "that we're more than just the Pravda of the right." He adds, "I think that's going to be difficult for some people. I honestly don't know what Sean Hannity is going to be able to talk about. If you've been reading off the Republican National Committee's talking points like he has for the past four years, it's going to be hard to be critical of the status quo."
Michael Harrison, publisher of the trade magazine Talkers shared the view that conservative hosts will have to change tack, commenting, "They'll be smart to turn on themselves and talk about which conservatives are the 'true' conservatives. If they keep beating up liberals, it will ring hollow over time. People realize this isn't 1993 speaking, it's almost 2005."
From the other side of the political spectrum, Air America host, humorist Al Franken also saw a possible silver lining, saying, "You could argue that the best thing for us was the re-election of George Bush. The country may be swirling down the toilet, but it's given us great stuff to talk about."
Finally another note of criticism - or perhaps we should say destruction - from Tom Shales who in the Washington Post penned a scathing attack on Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael K Powell. The first sentence sets the tone: "Oops. They got rid of the wrong Powell. The father unfortunately is going, but the son, even more unfortunately, remains behind."
Shales makes further strong attacks - "Pompous and imperious, an ideologue who believes unfailingly in his own philosophy of how TV and radio should work… the Torquemada of the insane campaign now being waged against 'obscenity' on the airwaves- Powell belongs at the bottom of the barrel with the lowliest of the bunch. He is an agenda masquerading as a man, the proverbial pompous ass and, worse, a genuine threat to freedom of speech" - intermingled with details of FCC anti-indecency actions that he puts down to the pressure from "fanatical right-wing groups that include words like "family" or "decency" in their names and view increased permissiveness on TV as part of a left-wing plot to undermine moral values."
He then makes a point made before by a number of others including Howard Stern about the actual effects on listeners or viewers - writing of the Janet Jackson nipple "At no point did anyone, including Chairman Powell, positioned now like Attila at the head of the Huns, produce one single living creature -- man, woman, child, toddler, infant, newborn, late-term foetus, dog, cat, rooster, horse or parakeet -- who saw the briefly exposed nipple and was in any tangible way harmed by it" - and in a sense far more of concern the tactics used by the protestors, particularly now the Internet makes manipulating e-mail protests so much easier and less costly than organising snail-mail protests.
He gives a good example in which former TV critic Jeff Jarvis filed a Freedom of Information Act request to see the 159 complaints y received at the FCC because of an April 2003 Fox special, "Married by America." 159 he writes, "seems like an insignificant enough number, but when Jarvis checked further into the case, he found that most of the letters were identical, produced by an "automated complaint factory," and that the number of authentic, actual, original letters of complaint was not 159 but . . . three. Yes, three."
RNW comment: We have previously commented on the problems of sorting out the wheat from the chaff in organized complaints and perhaps it's time for it to be automatic for information on "duplicate" complaints to be detailed every time a number is given out. To set up computer software to spot duplication - it's quite common now in education to spot US students who "cheat" by simply pasting in someone else's work - is not difficult and it would certainly provide a more accurate perspective if a supposed mass of thousands of complaints is revealed to be nearly all copies of a standard message set up by a protesting organisation for others to copy.
On then to suggested listening, which this week is virtually all from the BBC since circumstances have led to listening on old fashioned FM rather than using the Internet.
First we'd suggest the BBC Radio 3 Sunday feature from last week, which looked at the 1787 Philadelphia Convention that produced the US Constitution. The third in this "meeting of Minds" series, to be aired next Sunday at 21:45 GMT will be on the 1935 First International Congress of Writers for the Defence of Culture held in Paris.
After that we'd suggest the second of a three-programme series on the nature of selfishness; "Family Lore " [aired on Sunday with a repeat due next Saturday at 05:45 GMT] in the "on Being Selfish" series looked at how children learn altruism: The programme will be on the BBC Radio 4 web site until next weekend when the third of the series "A Good Deed and a Hot Bath" airs at 17:40 GMT.
For those interested in food history, we'd suggest from BBC Radio 4 "Who Ate All the Pies?" in which Ian MacMillan travels Britain to sample local varieties of pie. The first programme - available until next Sunday online - came from Melton Mowbray, home of the traditional pork pie and next Sunday's one at 15:45 GMT will be from Goddard's Eel and Pie shop in Greenwich from where the Goddard family has been supplying this traditional London dish since 1890.
With another eye on food, we'd suggest BBC Radio 4 tonight at 21:00 GMT in which Sue Broom reports in Future Fish on the farming of fish such as cod and haddock in the first of a two-part series.
Moving on to drama and next Sunday BBC Radio 3 airs at 20:00 GMT an adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's novel Pale Fire.
From BBC Radio 2 we'd suggest the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards on Wednesday at 20:00 GMT and on Thursday Masters of Rock at 21:00 GMT in which Bruce Dickinson traces the evolution of hard rock.
On Wednesday at 21:00 GMT in Frontiers on BBC Radio 4 the topic is Flu and a timely reminder as concern grows about the latest version of the virus to emerge in Thailand and Vietnam that the 1918 Flu pandemic killed more people than all the wars of the last century put together,
Finally tomorrow at 11:00 GMT when, in Radio Roots, Russell Davies looks back at the careers of some of Britain's most popular performers, before they were famous: This programme features the late Richard Burton in tremendous voice!
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2004-11-22: New Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin is likely to introduce advertising to the satellite company according to a report in thestreet.com.
It says that although both satellite companies are promoting their service ad ad-free, they have in fact reserving the policy for music channels and allowed advertising to become "growing component of the news, talk and sports broadcasts."
"The debate, it seems," says the report, "is just how much advertising will Karmazin use to repair some of the staggering losses from the pay radio business model?"
It goes on to say that Howard Stern's contract with Sirius includes a share of advertising revenues for his show and goes on to quote Janco Partners analyst April Horace as saying, "Karmazin brings a lot of advertising relationships to the table. There are plenty of places advertising can go without hurting the core programming."
She suggests that both companies can insert adverts into rebroadcasts of pre-game and post-game sports shows as well as into news and talk programmes.
The report notes that the satellite companies continue to be cash hungry -- Sirius posted USD169 million in losses on USD 19 million in sales last quarter- and suggests, "with all those losses, advertising represents an attractive lever that the satellite radio operators can pull when they need to bring in more money."
It ends by noting that Karmazin said during a CNBC interview that he'd be happy "with 5%" of the USD 22 billion or so advertising revenue generated annually in the conventional radio market and comments, "Sirius investors may wonder if that's USD 1.1 billion that will fix or merely fuel the cash consuming engine."
Newsweek in a report in its November 29 issue also highlights the losses the satellite companies have made and says that XM, which got a crucial head start and has around three times as many subscribers, is ahead in almost every area except the publicity battle.
"But a perennial runner-up can't survive on news clips alone," it continue before going on to note the talent - including Stern and Eminem - and sports rights that Sirius has signed up in what it terms a "a series of expensive gambles."
The game it says is to spend whatever it takes to get premier programming aimed at young adult men, who'll then drive up Sirius's sales in electronics stores and auto dealerships.
It quotes outgoing Sirius CEO Joseph P. Clayton as saying, "We think that with enough time and money, we'll eventually catch up on the technology [XM currently has a better range of receivers]. So we believe it will eventually boil down to who has better content."
Recruiting Mel Karmazin as CEO, says Newsweek's report, is the ultimate expression of Sirius's evolving strategy. "The thing that people don't understand about this business is that it's all about brand names," Clayton said before last week's announcement. Karmazin, who managed Infinity radio's growth from three stations in 1981 to 185 by the time Viacom bought it in 2000, is the ultimate celebrity executive, particularly compared to the relatively unknown Clayton.
It also notes that Karmazin is likely to more aggressive than his predecessor noting that Clayton said repeatedly during his tenure that Sirius could profitably be the No. 2 player in satellite radio whereas Karmazin says that staying No. 2 "is not something that is on my agenda."
RNW comment: Even though there is an obvious attraction for the satellite companies in cutting back their losses as much as they can, we think that were they to overdo advertising it would become a significant turn-off for many subscribers. Sirius, in particular, in our view could risk doing serious damage to its ad-free selling points especially if XM, which has a commanding lead in subscribers, chooses to keep it advertising down and emphasise this as a selling point.
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2004-11-22: Australian Prime Minister John Howard has said that although his government would pass new media laws that would allow cross ownership and greater foreign investment the changes are not a great priority for its current term.
In an interview with the Seven Network Howard said he believed the laws needed changing but also said, "It's not the most important thing I have on my agenda and I've said before I don't intend to expend an enormous amount of political capital on changing them."
"I do believe cross-media laws should be changed and we should allow foreign investment in the media to get more diversity," he said "but I'm not going to live or die politically according to whether we get those changes through - there are other more important things."

2004-11-22: Madison, Wisconsin, WTDY-AM - Madison's progressive talk station - host John "Sly" Sylvester is continuing to come attack from all over the USA following comments made on Wednesday in which he called State nominee Condoleezza Rice an "Aunt Jemima" and outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell an "Uncle Tom".
Sylvester has come under attack from both sides of the political spectrum but subsequently refused to apologize, saying he stood by what he had said and added, "I was aiming that directly at a black person that is letting himself (and herself) be used by an administration that has been extremely hostile to minorities."
"Being subservient and being a black role model are two different things. I think (Rice) has not only been bad for the country and for national security, but I think she's been a bad black role model.
"I don't think being subservient to white people and not blowing the whistle on their misdoings is a good role model at all."
Amongst those who have attacked his comments are Sen. Russ Feingold (Dem, Wisconsin) who termed the comments "extremely inappropriate", Madison community station WORT-FM host Stanley Woodard, who heads the local NAACP's (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) legal redress committee and termed the comments " at best insensitive and at worst racist" and NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, who said the comments "are just as bad as those who hide under sheets and burn crosses" and said Rice is "an example of how far hard work, education and determination can take one to new heights."
The Capital Times reported that the Urban League of Greater Madison issued a statement condemning Sylvester's "continuing ignorant remarks" and calling for station owner Mid-West Family Broadcasting to publicly denounce the insults.
"His glib 'apology to Aunt Jemima' demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the ignorant racial and ethnic stereotypes that underlie his comment," Urban League Vice President Edward Lee wrote.
"Such perspectives fail to allow a diversity of ideas and opinions within the African-American community. We do not feel that African-Americans should be forced to adopt a monolithic point of view, and in the absence of such be faced with public derision."
Mid-West general manager Tom Walker told the paper he doesn't agree with Sylvester's comments but defended his right to free speech.
"He has the right to do it and say it," Walker said. "As long as he isn't hateful and as long as he isn't racist, I'm fine with it. "The only thing I fear is that he enjoys the notoriety of this so much he keeps fanning the flames."
Sylvester, who is WTDY program director, told the paper the station has continued to support him and has not moved toward punishment.
"They understand where I'm coming from," he said. "They don't agree with me, but they pay me to give my opinion and they know I'm not a racist."
He then added that he is "troubled" at the possibility that advertisers may leave the station, saying, "I work for a truly great company, a local company that has the courage to keep me on the air. I don't want to see anybody else here hurt because of what I say."
A poll on the station web site when we last checked showed just above four-fifths of respondents saying he should apologise to Rice.
RNW comment: In assessing these comments it seems to use there are two elements - the right of free speech and the degree to which the comments can be sustained in argument - to this furore.
We think the use of generic epithets should be avoided - whether it be the terms used here or the "wetback" comments used by another Wisconsin host, Mark Belling of Milwaukee, earlier this month (
See RNW Nov 9).
At the same time we think the context in which Belling's comments were made - he was suggesting there would be wholesale voting fraud by Hispanics - was far more offensive as indeed are many remarks made by many conservative hosts.
At the same time we would note that Rice and Powell, particularly Rice, have been criticized by others for going along with "conviction" driven decisions rather than ones based on evidence and Mfume came under attack from conservatives in July after his comments to the NAACP annual convention in Philadelphia saying conservative Black organisations were being funded by white Republicans as indeed did Harry Belafonte after he termed Powell a "house slave" in October 2002.
Had Sylvester avoided the labels, we think he might not have got the same publicity but would have also been on much more defensible ground. We would also comment that to remark on the skin colour of those to whom anyone is being subservient inherently involves a racial element: Is Sylvester really saying it would be fine if Rice were being subservient to black folks and not blowing the whistle on their misdoings?

Capital Times report:
WTDY web site:

2004-11-22: San Diego State University public radio station KPBS-FM, which is buying KQVO-FM in Calexico for USD 1.1 million from Hanson Broadcasting Company Inc. expects to start transmitting its programming from the former Spanish Contemporary outlet from noon today under a local management agreement while it awaits regulatory approval for the purchase, which was filed just over a week ago.
The San Diego Union-Tribune says the expansion that will add a potential 150,000 extra listeners is likely to significantly boost KPBS's fund raising and quotes KPBS general manager Doug Myrland as saying, "This was one of the largest areas in the country that did not have any National Public Radio or Public Radio International service. We are thrilled to be changing that."
The paper also notes that last week KBPS cancelled its early-evening interview show, "The Lounge," in order to put more resources into production of its morning current-events show, "These Days."
San Diego Union-Tribune report:

2004-11-21: Probably the most significant announcement from the regulators last week was the approval in the US of a software-defined radio device, part of a series of developments that could yet see major changes in the use of spectrum by permitting audio to be chopped up into parcels of information that get transmitted through varying frequencies etc and then reconstituted, thus allowing use of "dead" time in current spectrum use.
Otherwise activities were more routine in nature with a steady level of activity in most areas.
In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) has allocated a new community licence in Tasmania: This went to TAMAR FM, which is already broadcasting in the George Town area under a temporary licence and was the sole applicant.
The ABA has also imposed strict conditions on Perth youth community station Groove FM starting from January 1, 2005 to ensure proper governance of the station, relating in particular to its finances and administration, and also the broadcasting of a wider range of music.
Commenting on the decision Acting ABA Chair Lyn Maddock said, 'YMS was allocated a licence to provide a service for all the youth of Perth, not just for those interested in urban and dance music. The conditions will ensure that YMS provides a diverse range of music and talk programming, that it continues to play a high level of local and Australian music, and that it actively invites Perth youth to participate in the service - not just as volunteers, but as members of YMS who can be involved in decision making about the future and direction of both Groove FM and the licensee association."
In Canada, where the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has now approved CHUM's acquisition of Craig Media, a move that will considerably extend its TV holdings, there were a number of routine radio decisions. In Order of province they included:
British Columbia:
*Renewal from 1 December 2004 to 31 August 2011 of licence for radiocommunication distribution undertaking distributing to Winfield the programming of the Knowledge Network and of CBU-FM Vancouver.
Ontario:
*Approval of change in contours of CHPR-FM, Hawkesbury, by decreasing the antenna height and relocating the transmitter.
*Approval of change to contours of FM authorized in conversion of CJRL, Kenora, from AM by decreasing the effective radiated power from 40,000 watts to 31,200 watts
*Extension until 31 August 2005 of time limit for Milestone Radio Inc. to commence the operation of a transitional digital radio undertaking in Toronto authorized in 2002.
Saskatchewan:
*Approval of application to change contours of Christian music FM in Nipawin, which was authorized in March this year, by increasing the antenna height and relocating the transmitter.
Ireland had no radio announcements and the UK was fairly quiet with the only licence announcement from Ofcom being to publish the names of the three applicants for the Kidderminster FM licence.
They came from:
Ace FM - proposing a classic hit radio station with news, information and features of particular relevance to Kidderminster, Stourport and Bewdley.
Kidderminster FM - proposing a music led station featuring great hits from the last four decades plus local and national news, information, sport and features.
The Wyre FM - proposing a music-led station for 25-54 year olds in Kidderminster and the Wyre Forest dedicated to providing comprehensive local news and information.
In the US, as well as the first approval of software-defined radio that we have already noted (See RNW Nov 20), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has continued with its FM licence auction 37, although this, having bounded ahead earlier, has now slowed down and gone a little into reverse (See RNW Nov 20).
It also issued a number of penalties (See RNW Nov 18). Also related to the commission was the nomination and subsequent Senate Committee approval of the nomination of Jonathan S. Adelstein for a further term as a Commissioner (See RNW Nov 19),
Previous ABA:
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2004-11-21: When Infinity announced earlier this month that it was cutting ties with independent record promoters it gave no reason for the decision (See RNW Nov 18) but one may have emerged with a report that it has fired programmer John McCrae after an investigation concluded that he had accepted an unspecified sum's worth of gift certificates sent ostensibly for use in listener contests or in station promotions.
McRae oversaw four Infinity stations in Rochester including rock WCMF-FM and pop WPXY-FM.
The New York Times reports that the Infinity executives feared that Mr. McCrae accepted the certificates for personal spending and that the certificates might have influenced which music the station played or might have created an appearance of favouritism toward particular record labels,
It adds that worries about McCrae were one factor that prompted this week's decision by top Infinity executives to break off the company's relationships with independent promoters
The Times notes that since the payola scandals that led to Federal laws prohibiting undisclosed acceptance of anything for playing a specific song record labels have curried favour with programmers through paying for junkets and providing concert tickets and other gifts as well as paying independent promoters who pay stations an annual fee that is said not to be for airplay but for advance copies of playlists. The promoters bill the record labels on the basis of the songs played.
Viacom has strict rules about accepting gifts and before it instituted its total ban on dealing with independent promoters had already barred exclusive deals but the Times says people in the music industry said McCrae routinely represented the Rochester stations in dealings with three or four different promoters.
Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:

2004-11-21: Bradford C Bleidt, the Boston businessman and owner of business news station WBIX-AM was arrested on Friday on federal mail fraud charges in connection with activities that are said to involved at least 140 investors. An affidavit to the U.S. District Court said statements found in his business office indicated that the combined portfolio value of the 140 clients would have been more than USD 45 million but when the company's bank account was frozen it contained only USD22, 316
Bleidt was charged with mail fraud because he mailed fake investment statements to clients, charges that carry a penalty of up to 20 years in jail and three years probation plus a USD 250,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said, "Many of these individuals' life savings have been lost and their retirement plans have been ruined. The absolute shock and devastation the victims must be experiencing at this time is unimaginable."
Bleidt had attempted suicide and sent taped confessions of malpractice to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has frozen his assets including the radio station, which is said to have been bought with clients' money.
In an affidavit filed with the court on Friday, FBI special agent Dennis Regan said he listened to nine of the recordings that Bleidt mailed. In one of the tapes, Bleidt described his enterprise as ''a great big Ponzi scheme,'' and said he was guilty of ''some very hideous crimes.''
''I am reporting a serious, serious breach of professional conduct and just criminal behaviour,'' he said on one tape, according to the affidavit. ''I am reporting myself.''
Previous WBIX:
Boston Globe/AP report:

2004-11-21: Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) has now completed its USD 10.5 million purchase of WCAL-FM and KMSE-FM from St Olaf College despite last-minute attempts by SaveWCAL.org to stop the deal going through.
The station, which is 82-years-old, will stop broadcasts from Northfield and switch to MPR's headquarters in St Paul at 22:00 local this evening according the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, which says an e-mail to St Olaf staff and students said this would allow a final broadcast of the Sunday worship programs "Sing for Joy" and "Compline" on the station.
The new station will mainly simulcast programming of MPR's classical station KSJN-FM until a format change and new call letters are announced later this year.
In its rear-guard action, SaveWCAL publicized an error by the St Paul City Council whose members, acting as the Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA), failed to make documents available for public inspection prior to a hearing on Oct. 27 after which the HRA approved USD 22 million in bond financing for MPR, USD 12 million of which was authorized for the WCA/.KMSE deal.
The financing allows MPR to obtain low cost loans but the money has not yet been transferred - short-term financing was used to complete the purchase - and following the protest the public hearing has now been rescheduled for December 8 according to the SaveWCal's web site.
This could mean that the USD 12 million linked to the deal will not now be forthcoming but MPR says that in this event it would use conventional financing, which would cost more and hit the station's services.
Previous MPR:
Minneapolis Star-Tribune report:
SaveWCAL web site:
2004-11-20: Although he did not as had been rumoured announce that he was to leave Viacom before his contract runs out in January 2006, Howard Stern nevertheless performed well in boosting Sirius satellite radio on the Late Show with David Letterman on Thursday.
He began with an prepared statement saying his career was "never normal" and then going on in answer to a question as to what had led him to move to satellite, In recent years, because of the government interference and what's been going on with the FCC [and] Clear Channel Broadcasting, doing my job every day has become increasingly difficult."
He then went on to say that were Chris Rock to come on his show 99% of his material would have to be cut out and went on, "It's become increasingly difficult to do my show. The same show I did a year ago the government will fine me for. I have millions of dollars of fines against me and this is my way of checkmating the US government. I've got somewhere to go. We're going to build a new future. This is the beginning of a new age."
…"Because of the government regulation, my syndication business has been stopped cold," Stern said. "I was on my way to being on all over the country. I can't syndicate my show any more. Radio stations are deathly afraid of the religious right. They are afraid of the Bush administration and they are afraid to get on the wrong side of some guy named Michael Powell."
Stern distanced himself from rivals Anthony and Opie when asked an indirect question about the Sex in St. Anthony's Cathedral stunt, saying, "I would not support going into St. Patrick's and having sex. That's not honoring people who are religious. I've never been about that. I'm for outrageous radio. I'll say whatever's on my mind. I won't invade somebody's church and do something. That's not my thing."
Stern also gave a good plug for Sirius, commenting, "I am turning my back on regular terrestrial radio, but I believe that in five years, satellite radio will be the dominant medium in radio broadcasting. It will be satellite, and it will be Sirius. We're going to see the nature of radio change."
Sirius, which was boosted by the announcement on Thursday that former Viacom President and COO Mel Karmazin was to join it as CEO (See RNW Nov 19), has ended the week on a strong note. Its shares, which bounded on the news, ended the week at USD 5.17, adding 9.3% on Friday and touching USD 5.55 at one time. It had begun the week below USD 4.50.
RNW note: Karmazin would have prospered mightily if the shares had jumped this much at the end of his contract- he is reported to have a five-year deal that in addition to paying USD 1.25 million a year also allows him to build up 30 million stock options over that period.
Previous Sirius:
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2004-11-20: Bidding in the US Federal Communications Commission's FM licence Auction 37 went into reverse on Friday with the total dropping by 4.6% during the day to end Round 52 with a grand total of USD 178,116,500 in bids compared to USD 186,689,100 at the end of round 46 on Thursday.
The top bidders held their places with College Creek Broadcasting still in top spot with 41 high bids totalling USD 42,725,000 - down in total from 39 high bids totalling USD 43,164,000: Its bids range from USD 70,000 for a licence in Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, to USD 7,131,000 for one in Mesquite, Nevada, both as on Thursday. This Mesquite bid remains the highest single bid for a licence.
In second place is Bigglesworth Broadcasting, which now has an unchanged ten high bids totalling USD 24,268,000: Its bids range from USD 1,092,000 for a licence in Lockwood, Montana, to an unchanged USD 6,765,000 for one in Pacific Junction, Iowa.
In third place is Radioactive, LLC which has 21 high bids totalling USD 13,159,000 also unchanged: Its bids range from USD 134,000 for a licence in Sac City, Iowa, to USD 2,695,000for one in Dannemora, New York.
Cumulus Licensing LLC fourth place still has eight high bids totalling USD 10,026,000, down from 11 high bids totalling USD 12,399,000: Its bids range from USD 119,000 for a licence in St Paul, Arizona, as before, to USD 2,384,000 for one in Lennox, South Dakota.
Previous FCC:
Previous FCC Auction 37:

2004-11-20: Two top executives from Macquarie Radio Network (MRN ) have quit less than a fortnight after it announced plans for a flotation in the middle of next year.
A report in the Sydney Morning Herald says it was told by Macquarie chief executive Angela Clarke that the sudden resignations of general manager Louise Barrett and agency sales manager Chris Thornton would not damage the company's investor appeal before its initial public offering.
Clark was hired in April this year by Macquarie owner John Singleton from outdoor advertising company JC Decaux, Australia, where she was managing director.
She inherited a sales team build up by her predecessor George Buschmann including Barret and Thornton who had defected from Sydney 2UE along with broadcasters Alan Jones and Ray Hadley.
The paper says it appears Ms Barrett's strong client-based relationship did not fit in with Ms Clark's decision to change talk radio's image with advertisers and her greater focus on agency work.
Clark's approach "should target the baby boomers who don't consider themselves old but are going on adventure holidays, buying mobile phones, and eating out more than they ever did before" has received backing from Singleton who told the paper, "There will be those who agree with Angela's vision and those who don't ... but I am a great fan."
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Sydney Morning Herald report:

2004-11-20: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Friday approved for the first time a software defined radiodevice, issuing a Grant of Certification to software development company Vanu, Inc. for a cellular base station transmitter.
Software defined radios allow more efficient use of spectrum by allowing switching of frequency range, modulation type or output power and FCC chairman Michael K. Powell commented, "This is the first step in what may prove to be a radio technology revolution. The industry's pioneering work to find more creative and efficient use of our airwaves will continue to bring benefits to consumers."
The FCC says Vanu's device complies with the Commission's rules, and has shown that its software has sufficient controls so that it cannot be modified to operate outside its Commission-approved parameters.
It adds that it currently has a rulemaking pending that will further streamline the software defined radio requirements, and it is working with each applicant on a case-by-case basis to facilitate compliance with the current rules.
Previous FCC:
Previous Powell:

2004-11-20: Boston business station WBIX-AM is now facing a fight to stay going after Chris Egan, who had a deal to buy it for USD 7 million walked away from the deal.: The deal was agreed before WBIX owner Brad Bleidt, now recovering in a Boston hospital, attempted suicide and confessed that he had bought it with clients money,
The station was estimated to be losing more than USD 100,000 a month according to the Boston Herald, which reports that Egan told staff he was pulling out on Thursday afternoon, adding that he would guarantee pay and benefits until Jan. 7 for most staff although some recent hirings have lost their jobs including "Midday Business Report'' host Gina Cervetti, and Joe Sands, executive producer of the "Market Wrap'', which is hosted by Mark Mills.
The station is now in the hands of receiver David Vicinanzo, a partner at law firm Nixon Peabody, who has to attempt to recover as much as possible for victims who may have been robbed of up to USD 35 million. The Herald also reports that former station owner Alex Langer, is still owed more than USD 7 million by Bleidt and may have a claim against the station.
Mills told the paper, "We know the court-appointed receiver is coming. He may lay us all off or keep some of us, but we thought if there's any chance to keep a breath of life in this station we'd do that,'' adding that staff plan "to keep making programs until they tell us to stop."
Egan, who has already lost "hundreds of thousands of dollars" since taking over control of the station at the start of August under a local marketing agreement told the paper, "It just goes to prove, you can't do a good deal with a bad person."
It reports that the receiver would probably have opposed any attempt to complete the deal and says Egan didn't want a fight on his hands but has said he hasn't given up totally and might bid for WBIX if it is put up for sale.
WBIX has a 40,000-watt daytime signal as well as a night-time signal that Bleidt managed to get approved but little value in terms of the money-losing business itself so any bid is likely to be related to the potential value of its licence and transmitter for another format.
The fallout from the scandal has also affected the broadcasting career of Bleidt's wife Bonnie, a certified financial planner and close business associate of her husband. She co-hosted a morning show on WBIX and also reported as a freelance on business news for morning shows at Viacom's WBZ-TV and WSBK-TV.
She is currently off the air and has been at the hospital with her husband. If investigators clear her of any knowledge of any illegal activities by her husband insiders at the TV stations say her career there could survive because she is regarded as a good business reporter.
Previous WBIX:
Boston Herald report:

2004-11-20: Former Radio Luxembourg and BBC Radio1 host and later TV and BBC Radio 2 stand-in presenter Noel Edmonds - he was a stand-in for Johnnie Walker last year (See RNW Jul 28 2003)- is to play the detective in a live interactive radio play on BBC Radio Devon next month.
The play, A Christmas Murder, is described by the station as a "twisted tale of murder, revenge, betrayal and suspicion" and is being broadcast on the evening of December 15 in connection with a station charity appeal that has so far raised GBP 930,000 (USD 1.73 million) towards its GBP 1 million (USD 1.86 million) target to build a state-of-the-art unit for the detection and treatment of prostate cancer.
Edmonds along with Radio Devon mid-morning presenter Judi Spiers and a cast of Radio Devon voices will be taking part in the drama in which listeners will be asked to solve a series of clues and to pit their wits alongside the celebrity detective to help discover "whodunnit." An associated pack that together with clues in the broadcast should enable the murderer to be identified is being sold on the station web site
The drama was devised by Radio Devon presenters John Coates and Simon Furber and Edmonds commented, "This is such a good idea and we believe it's a radio first in that nobody has ever invited listeners to solve a murder before."
"The whole plot is just fantastic and it's a great opportunity for people to play along at home and enjoy an evening of radio drama."
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Previous Edmonds:
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2004-11-20: After a slow start to transactions last week, US radio deals speeded up notably with Waitt Radio's merger subject to regulatory approval with NewRadio Group.
NewRadio owns 27 stations in Wisconsin and Illinois and Waitt owns 62 stations in the mid west as well as the Waitt Radio Network, which is comprised of a the Waitt Farm Network and Waitt Radio Networks that provides a locally tailored service to some 100 companies round the US.
The new group's main shareholders will be Waitt Media, parent of its radio group, and Boston-based private equity fund Alta Communications that has linked up with NewRadio in the past. No financial details have been released of the deal.
In a statement announcing the merger, NewRadio Group president and CEO Mary Quass, who is to take the same role in the merged entity, said, "We are excited to have the opportunity to join forces with Waitt Radio to build the best local radio group in the country."
Waitt Media Chairman Norman W. Waitt, Jr., who will chair the merged entity, added, "We look forward to working closely with our new partners, Alta Communications & NRG, to building what we believe will be the premier radio group in the Midwest."
The combined operation is expected to begin operations under a local management agreement in January and the transaction has been filed with the FCC as a Waitt purchase of NewRadio's stations.
Another substantial deal came in Texas where Access.1 Communications is paying USD 26 million for Waller Broadcasting's KOYE-FM, Frankston; KOOI-FM, Jacksonville; KFRO-AM and KYKX-FM, Longview; and KKUS-FM, Tyler in the Tyler-Longview market.
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2004-11-19: Mel Karmazin, former Viacom president and COO, is to take over as Sirius CEO from Joseph P. Clayton; Clayton will stay on as chairman and he described the hiring of Karmazin as "the final piece in the turnaround of SIRIUS that began when I joined the company three years ago."
Clayton noted that his contract expired at the end of this year and said he had said he was prepared to stay on for a transitional period adding, "When Mel left Viacom, we all felt we had a unique opportunity. "I am very confident that Mel will accelerate the very positive momentum that we have established at Sirius in the past two years. "
Karmazin commented, "This is a perfect opportunity for me because I want to lead a growth company that can reshape the landscape of the radio business. I took Infinity Broadcasting and Westwood One to leadership positions in the industry and am confident that Sirius will become a market leader in short order."
The appointment has further fuelled speculation that Howard Stern, who had long been backed by Karmazin, is to leave Infinity and join Sirius before his contract expires at the start of 2006.
Stern gave further weight to the suggestion at his Thanksgiving celebration in Union Square, New York, on Thursday when he gave away Sirius receivers and gift certificates. He is to appear on the Late Show with David Letterman later on Thursday evening (New York time) and is widely expected to announce on the show that a buy-out deal has been agreed between Viacom-Infinity and Sirius.
Clayton has already said he would be prepared to negotiate an early move for Stern and earlier this month Stern on his show was openly critical of current Infinity management when compared to Karmazin (See RNW Nov 13).
Rival XM, which is leading the subscriber race by around 2.5 million subscribers to Sirius's 700,000, has announced details of new financing. It is offering USD 300 million of 1.75% convertible senior notes due 2009 that will be convertible into the Company's Class A Common Stock at an initial conversion rate of 20.0 shares per USD 1,000 principal amount of the notes - equal to an initial conversion price of USD 50.00 per share. The offer is expected to close on November 23 and funds raised are to be used for working capital and general corporate purposes.
In addition to the offering, the initial purchaser of the notes has been given an option to purchase up to an additional USD 100 million aggregate principal amount of them.
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2004-11-19: Scottish Radio Holdings provided a boost to UK commercial radio on Thursday when, following more gloomy results from Emap (See RNW Nov 17) and Chrysalis (See RNW Nov 16) it reported revenues up 5% over the past six weeks on a like-for -like basis. Local revenues were up 12%.
Overall SRH's preliminary results for the year to the end of September showed turnover up 15% to GBP 96.3 million (USD 177.8 million) with group operating profit up 16% to GBP 22.1 million (USD 39.6 million).
Like for like revenues were up 9% with radio revenues up 10% reflecting an increase of 9% in national advertising revenue, 12% growth in local advertising revenues, and 7% in sponsorship and promotions revenue and like-for-like revenues at its press division were up 9%.
Chairman Lord Gordon of Strathblane said of the results, "After another year of strong growth, we have been able to report excellent results, with outstanding performances from our two divisions - radio and press."
"We are very pleased with the group's progress during the last year, which has benefited from good organic growth enhanced by a further addition in 2004. The significant increase in revenues and operating profits is extremely encouraging and with strong operating margins, market-leading local radio companies and established local press titles SRH is well-placed for continued growth."
"The new financial year has started well with group revenues from continuing operations 14% ahead of the same period last year."
Previous Lord Gordon:
Previous SRH:

2004-11-19: Bidding in the US Federal Communications Commission's FM licence Auction 37 slowed down dramatically on Thursday, creeping up only 0.8% during the day to end round 46 with a grand total of USD 186,689,100 in bids compared to USD 185,172,700 at the end of round 40 on Wednesday.
.The top bidders held their places with College Creek Broadcasting still in top spot with 39 high bids totalling USD 43,164,000 - up from 42 bids totalling USD 38,464,000-: Its bids range from USD 70,000 for a licence in Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, to USD 7,131,000 for one in Mesquite, Nevada. This bid is now the highest single bid for a licence.
In second place is Bigglesworth Broadcasting, which now has an unchanged ten high bids totalling USD 24,268,000: Its bids range from USD 1,092,000 for a licence in Lockwood, Montana, to an unchanged USD 6,765,000 for one in Pacific Junction, Iowa.
In third place is Radioactive, LLC which has 21 high bids totalling USD 13,159,000 also unchanged: Its bids range from USD 134,000 for a licence in Sac City, Iowa, to USD 2,695,000for one in Dannemora, New York.
Cumulus Licensing LLC in fourth place fell back slightly, however. It now has eight high bids totalling USD 10,026,000, down from 11 high bids totalling USD 12,399,000: Its bids range from USD 119,000 for a licence in St Paul, Arizona, as before, to USD 2,384,000 for one in Lennox, South Dakota.
The FCC has also now listed 184 new AM station applications that aren't mutually exclusive with other proposed stations in its planned AM station auction but petitions to delay these may still be filed during the next 30 days.
Previous FCC:
Previous FCC Auction 37:

2004-11-19: The wife of Boston businessman Bradford C. Bleidt, who is being investigated over the theft of tens of millions of dollars from his investors, has said she knew nothing about the matter until she received a taped confession he had made to her before attempting suicide.
Bonnie Kirchner Bleidt said in a statement, "My heart goes out to all of these innocent victims." She is president of WBIX-AM, the Boston business news radio station owned by her husband and also is co-hosts a show on the station, which Brad Bleidt has said he bought with money stolen from clients of his investment business.
The station is currently being operated by and was in the process of being sold to Christopher Egan, the son of EMC Corp. co-founder Richard Egan.
The deal, which the Boston Herald says is worth USD 7 million, was due scheduled to close this month but is know being blocked by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which on Wednesday won a federal court order extending a temporary freeze of Brad Bleidt's assets and the USD 85 million believed to be held by his financial planning business, Allocation Plus Asset Management.
Bleidt paid USD 13.8 million for the station in November 2002 in a transaction that only closed in January this year and the SEC investigators want to ensure that the agreed deal was not set at an artificially low price because of financial pressures on Bleidt.
Previous WBIX:
Ocala Star Banner/AP report:

2004-11-19: Jonathan S. Adelstein is now set for a second term as a Commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) following approval by the Senate Commerce Committee of his nomination by President Bush for a term to the end of June 2008 (See RNW Nov 17).
In his appearance before the committee Adelstein, who had received bipartisan support from 17 Senators, stuck to his guns concerning media consolidation, which he has had a long history of opposing.
He told the committee he hopes the Commission will conduct a more thorough review of US media now its proposals have been stayed by a Federal Appeals Court and re-iterated his wish to hold more public hearings as well as conduct more studies on the matter. He said he thought that the Commission's Republican majority made a "mistake" in not doing enough research before proposing new ownership rules in June last year.
In a pre-prepared statement Adelstein also noted how growing up in South Dakota has made him appreciate the value of "staying connected, to each other and to the rest of the country" and said the FCC must continue to "must continue to encourage broadband deployment by increasing incentives for investment and promoting competition."
"Our entire country gains economic, social, and civic benefits from being connected to a seamless 'network of networks,'" he said.
Referring to media ownership in the statement Adelstein said," I have never forgotten that the airwaves belong to the American people, and that it is critical to preserve their access to what the Supreme Court has called the "uninhibited marketplace of ideas." The FCC should continue to promote the priorities that have always formed the basis of our public interest policy as envisioned by Congress: diversity, competition and localism."
Previous Adelstein:
Previous FCC:

2004-11-19: The last programme recorded by the late British DJ John Peel, who died of a heart attack whilst on a working holiday in Peru last month and was buried last Friday, is to be broadcast on the BBC World Service today and tomorrow.
As well as his BBC Radio 1 and 4 shows, Peel had a weekly show on the World Service and had recorded three programmes before he went on the trip.
The final Peel broadcast will include tracks from the Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden, the UK and the United States.
Bands on the show include Matoa from Prague, The Doll House from Sweden, Neu from Germany, The Woggles from Georgia, and a new band from Liverpool, Ella Guru.
The broadcast will be introduced by BBC World Service presenter Mark Coles and airs today at 10:30 GMT, 13:30 GMT, and 19:30 GMT and also on Saturday at 01:45 GMT.
Last week's programme, also introduced by Coles, included music from Scottish balladeer James Yorkston, tracks from electronic duo Nettle and Franco-Lebanese Hip Hop artist Clotaire K, and The Fall, one of Peel's favourite bands, plus music from 1964 by Don & Juan. It will be on the BBC World Service site until 10:30 GMT when the last programme will replace it.
Previous BBC:
Previous Peel:

2004-11-18: Infinity Broadcasting has followed the lead set by Cox Radio (See RNW Oct 20, 2002) and Clear Channel by cutting all ties with independent music promoters (See RNW April 10, 2003).
The radio companies moves were made following questions raised by a number of senators including John McCain (Republican, Arizona), and Russ Feingold (Democrat, Wisconsin) after a number of reports had suggested that the deals with independents were a means to skirt payola laws.
Clear Channel's then president and COO Mark Mays (now president and CEO) said at that time, "We have zero tolerance for 'pay for play', but want to avoid even the suggestion that such a practice takes place within our company.'
The Viacom-Infinity move comes as as New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is reported to be turning his attention to the relationships between recording labels and radio companies following high-profile actions against other industries such as Wall Street and more recently the insurance companies.
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Cox:
Previous Mark Mays:
Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:

2004-11-18: BBC Radio 1 has announced that former breakfast and drivetime host Sara Cox is to return to the station in February next year following maternity leave but has opted not to return to the drivetime slot.
Instead she will host the weekend lunchtime show and its hosts JK and Joel (Jason King and Joel Ross) will move to the Chart Show on Sundays.
Wes Butters, who was recruited from Chrysalis Radio's Galaxy FM in Newcastle to take over the show in February last year from Mark Goodier (See RNW Feb 8, 2003) will leave the station.
His contract is not being renewed and a stations spokesman said there although they thought he was "great" there "just aren't the opportunities available for him on the station right now." Butters' agent says two other organizations have expressed interest in him hosting a weekday show.
Scott Mills, who replaced Cox at drivetime, will remain in the slot.
Cox, who had her first child, daughter Lola Anne, in June, said, "I'm looking forward to being back, I've really missed being on the radio. I'm going to do my best not to burst into nursery rhymes although The Wheels On The Bus is an old school classic."
Radio 1 controller Andy Parfitt commented, "We are beginning to reap the benefits of the changes we initiated towards the end of last year. These latest moves are simply part of the continuing evolution of the station."
The station's Head Of Mainstream Programming Ben Cooper added, "It's going to be great to have Sara back and it gives JK & Joel a chance to breathe new life into what remains the biggest single show on the station. Sara's wish to move to weekends means that Scott can continue to build on the great work he has been doing on weekday drivetime."
Previous BBC:
Previous Butters:
Previous Cox:
Previous JK and Joel:
Previous Parfitt:

2004-11-18: Total bids in the US Federal Communications Commission's Auction 37 crept up another 3.5% on Wednesday ending the day at the end of round 40 with a grand total of USD 185,172,700 in bids compared to USD 178,971,900 at the end of round 34 on Tuesday.
The top bidders held their places with College Creek Broadcasting in top spot with 42 bids totalling USD 38,464,000- up from 37 bids totalling USD 27,254,000 -: Its bids range from USD 63,000 for a licence in Alas Animas, Colorado, to USD 4,871,000 for one in Mesquite, Nevada.
In second place is Bigglesworth Broadcasting, which now has ten high bids totalling USD 24,268,000- up from ten totalling USD 22,329,000: Its bids range from USD 1,092,000 for a licence in Lockwood, Montana, to an unchanged USD 6,765,000 for one in Pacific Junction, Iowa - still the highest bid for a single licence in the auction.
In third place is Radioactive, LLC which has 21 high bids totalling USD 13,159,000 down from 22 high bids totalling USD 16,209,000: Its bids range from USD 134,000 for a licence in Sac City, Iowa, to USD 2,695,000for one in Dannemora, New York.
Cumulus Licensing LLC in fourth place has 11 high bids totalling USD 12,399,000 up from ten high bids totalling USD 8,821,000: Its bids range from USD 119,000 for a licence in St Paul, Arizona, to USD 3,578,000for one in Lanesboro, Minnesota
Previous FCC:
Previous FCC Auction 37:

2004-11-18: Conservative US radio host Rush Limbaugh's appeal against the admission of his medical records in a possible "doctor shopping" case against him in connection with the abuse of prescription drugs may now be heard by the Florida Supreme Court.
In what Limbaugh's lawyer Roy Black said was a "victory for his client and for all Floridians" a three- judge panel that had ruled in October that procedures related to medical records related to subpoenas not search warrants (See RNW Oct 7) opted not to reconsider their decision, but to ask the Florida Supreme Court to decide the issue on a statewide basis.
The Supreme Court can opt not to hear the case but Black commented, "The Florida Supreme Court has ruled in prior cases that Florida's medical privacy laws elevate patient medical records to special status and provide 'a strict scheme for limited disclosure.'"
"I am optimistic that the Supreme Court will rule that the wholesale seizure of Mr. Limbaugh's medical records by the Palm Beach State Attorney was done in violation of these laws."
Limbaugh's case is that under Florida laws the prosecutors should not have seized the hosts medical records but should instead have given notice of their intent and asked a court to decide if they could seize the records through the use of subpoenas.
RNW comment: This case has made for strange bedfellows with Limbaugh gaining support from doctors and the American Civil Liberties Union, which has its own ironies since there would appear to be many past occasions when their views and those of the host diverged widely.
That in our view shows the ACLU to have a greater spirit than the host, the doctors to be pursuing self-interest and the host of course is doing the same.
We would not however share Black's purported confidence that the Supreme Court will necessarily rule his way since the previous panel's ruling in essence seems to us to simply affirm a long standing position that prosecutors have had the right to obtain medical records in a criminal investigation.
Indeed the dissent by Judge Melanie G. May from the earlier panel ruling took issue only on the question of disclosure - Limbaugh's records have in fact been sealed - and Judge May commented, "common sense suggests that law enforcement would itself be handcuffed if required to give notice to a person before lawfully 'seizing'' evidence."

Previous Limbaugh:

2004-11-18: The morning team at Cumulus's WXZZ-FM, Lexington, Kentucky, are now back on the air after a suspension over a hoax broadcast saying smoking had been banned in automobiles that led to hundreds of calls to the city authorities (See RNW Nov 12).
City officials who had been suggesting they might complain to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said they accepted the broadcast by the team - Twitch, Mary Jane and Kyle - was not malicious after meeting station executives. They will not now make a formal complaint to the FCC but will send one to the station.
Cumulus has agreed to make a formal apology to the Urban County Council on Thursday and donate USD500 each to the Police Activities League and to the Tubby's Clubhouses project and in a statement Mayor Teresa Isaac said in a statement, "I am satisfied that there was no malicious intent on the part of Cumulus and the disc jockeys to disrupt city services."
WXZZ General Manager Chris Clendenen said in a news release, "We applaud the city for their understanding regarding this manner. Our intentions, as always, were good, however, we share their concern regarding the number of phone calls placed to the police and 911 due to the hoax."
The city says that in all 875 calls were made to various government agencies following the broadcast.
Previous Cumulus:
Lexington Herald-Leader report:

2004-11-18: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed concern over a clampdown by Pakistani authorities on independent media with particular reference to Lahore FM-103, which was raided last week and two of whose journalists had earlier been arrested earlier in the month under public order laws, allegedly in connection with a demonstration outside a hospital (See RNW Nov 13).
The police said their later raid on FM-103 in which two staff members were arrested, computers and other equipment seized and transmissions stopped was made in connection with the earlier arrests.
The two arrested in the later raid, telephone operator Norman Ahmed and computer operator Abdul Graford, like those arrested earlier, have been given bail. Station management attacked the raid as being against government claims that Pakistan had free media and said, "We are yet to receive a written order from a competent authority, neither have we been told why our transmission was suspended. Even the Information Department and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) don't know."
In a news release the IFJ noted that FM103's station manager attributed the raids and arrests to earlier broadcasts of news bulletins produced by the BBC's Urdu language service and its president Christopher Warren commented, "The Government's attempt to intimidate this organisation is an absolute disgrace."
"Democracy is dependent on an independent and free media: this can not happen if media outlets, big or small, suffer harassment and intimidation at the hands of the authorities."
The IFJ is calling on the Punjabi authorities to immediately drop all charges against the arrested journalists and to respect independent and free media in Pakistan.
IFJ news release:

2004-11-18: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) enforcement bureau has this week reduced penalties on two stations on the basis of a past history of compliance but rejected other arguments for reductions or cancellations: It also issued a penalty on an Ohio AM that failed to respond to a notice of apparent violation (NAL)..
In Missouri, it reduced from USD 2,500 to USD 2,000 a penalty on Community Broadcasting, Inc., licensee of KCRL-FM, Sunrise Beach, for failure to maintain all required items in the station's public inspection file
In an inspection in January 2003, an FCC agent found the station's records file did not contain either a contour map or the current ownership report
Community requested dismissal of the proposed forfeiture saying that the contour map always was in the public file, but the agent missed it in his search and that the current ownership report (2001) was in the public file and its early filing of the February 1, 2003 ownership report did not make the early filed report the report of record, and thus meant no breach in this regard. It also said it had no history of violations. The FCC took USD 500 off the penalty on the last ground and dismissed the other arguments.
In Ohio, the FCC issued a USD 7,000 penalty to Beacon Broadcasting, Inc. licensee of radio station WANR-AM, Warren, for failure to enclose one of the station's two antenna towers within an effective locked fence. Beacon had failed to respond to an NAL sent to it in May.
In Texas, the Commission reduced from USD 10,000 to USD 8,000 penalties on East Texas Broadcasting, Inc., licensee of KPLT-AM, and owner of an antenna in Paris, for failure to register its antenna structure for KPLT and its failure to enclose its antenna tower within an effective locked fence.
Texas had sought reduction on the basis of a past history of compliance and prompt action to correct the violations and also on the basis of improvements made to the station. The FCC reduced the penalty by USD 2,000 on the basis of a past history of compliance but rejected other arguments. It also noted that the registration information for the antenna had still not been corrected and required a report within 30 days demonstrating that this had been done.
Previous FCC:

2004-11-18: BBC Radio 4 again showed it had a reach other media could not match on Wednesday when it successfully broadcast an appeal for someone in a boat off the east coast of Scotland to stop blocking an emergency frequency.
The broadcast was heard by coastguards who on Tuesday tuned in to the emergency VHF frequency and found it transmitting a House of Lords debate on fox hunting from the BBC Today breakfast show.
They deduced that someone off Inverness had blocked the frequency by tuning into the show and asked the BBC, which broadcasts shipping forecasts on Radio 4 twice a day, to help.
Presenter James Naughtie then interrupted the show on Wednesday just before 7 A.M. to say, "Someone on a vessel near Inverness is listening to this programme. The coastguard can hear you listening to the programme, but your VHF transmitter is blocking a channel used for emergency calls."
"So if you are on a ship somewhere around Inverness and listening to the Today programme, will you check you are not the one that's blocking the emergency channel?"
He then added, "After you've done that, do keep listening in, one way or another."
The appeal worked and shortly afterwards Naughtie announced that the frequency had been cleared.
The BBC has been called on to help with similar broadcasts before, although not always with the same success: In February this year after coastguards in Norfolk also heard snatches of Radio 4 from a ship that was accidentally jamming an emergency frequency an appeal was broadcast with no result.
Subsequently the signal was traced to the cargo ship "Victress" by the Wells lifeboat that had followed signals from the vessel.
Previous BBC:
Previous Naughtie:

2004-11-17: UK Emap's interim results for the half-year to the end of September have added to radio sector gloom in the UK: While the group as a whole saw turnover up 3% to GBP 522 million (USD 963 million) and group operating profit, excluding amortisation was up 7% to GBP 110 million (USD 197 million) its Emap Performance division that includes radio saw revenues down 2% to GBP 78 million (USD 140 million) and operating profit down 19% to GBP 15 million (USD 27 million).
Overall profit after tax was up 1% to GBP 72 million (USD 129 million).
Radio revenues were flat at around GBP 47 million (USD 84 million) and radio profits were down a quarter to GBP 9 million (USD 16 million), a fall Emap puts down largely to its investment of GBP 2 million (USD 3.6 million) each in Kerrang FM, its newly-launched West Midlands FM, and digital radio.
Emap was a little more confident about the future than Chrysalis, which the day before saw radio revenues as likely to be flat in the first three months of its fiscal 2005, predicting "mid-single digit" growth in radio advertising in the three months from October.
"As expected," it commented, "Emap's agency share deals are delivering an outperformance of the market on national radio airtime sales. Although the overall market has weakened noticeably in October and November, Emap expects to deliver reasonable growth across the quarter."
Emap chief executive Tom Moloney played down suggestions that it was ready to make a bid for the 72% of Scottish Radio Holdings that it does not own. It picked up the 27.8% holding from SMG and Moloney says he regards this as "a strategic stake in a fine company."
Moloney said that Emap had been clear that it would take a long view on radio consolidation but added that his group had more financial muscle than any of the other existing radio players.
Moloney also signalled that he felt there should be limits on the degree of consolidation allowed, saying that Capital Radio and GWR should be barred from bidding for new licences or buying more stations if their announced merger was to be allowed by regulators.
"We are supportive of radio consolidation," said Moloney, and went on, "but with that kind of share? We would not want to see them bidding for any further licences, either analogue or digital."
Overall said Moloney. Emap continues " to make good progress across our portfolio, and in many parts of the business we have grown our revenues, increased market share and improved our profitability, against a trading backdrop that continues to be competitively intense, especially in France."
Also showing comparative weakness in its radio division was LBI Media in the US: It reporter third quarter net revenues to the end of September up 6% to USD 24.2 million, primarily because of TV revenue growth which it said was "offset by a decline in revenue from our radio segment (radio net revenues were down 5% to $12.1 million), primarily resulting from a decrease in demand for Spanish-language advertising by national advertisers and strong overall results posted in the third quarter of 2003."
Overall LBI's net income fell from USD 5.9 million a year ago to USD 3.4 million, a decrease it said was "primarily attributable to a $1.8 million increase in non cash employee compensation and depreciation expense during the quarter."
Commenting on the results, Executive Vice President Lenard Liberman said, "I remain very enthusiastic about the prospects for both our television and radio operations. Our 20% net revenue growth from our television segment is quite impressive given the overall performance in our industry… Our radio revenue results have been disappointing in the third quarter of this year, primarily due to lacklustre national sales and difficult comparisons due to the double-digit growth rates we experienced in the third quarter of 2003. On a positive note, we have posted improved results with our largest radio properties in the two most recent Arbitron Ratings Books."
Previous Emap:
Previous LBI Media:
Previous Moloney:

2004-11-17: Total bids in the US Federal Communications Commission's Auction 37 rose only 3.4% on Tuesday - only a sixth of the rise on Monday, ending the day at the end of round 34 with a grand total of USD 178,971,900in bids compared to USD 173,063,400 at the end of round 28 on Monday.
The top two bidders held their places but Cumulus Licensing LLC was pushed out of third place by Radioactive, LLC.
Top bidder with a 37 bids totalling USD 27,254,000 - down from 45 high bids totalling USD 30,744,000 - is still College Creek Broadcasting: Its bids range from USD 63,000 for a licence in Alas Animas, Colorado, to USD 4,871,000 for one in Mesquite, Nevada.
In second place is Bigglesworth Broadcasting, which now has ten high bids totalling USD 22,329,000 - down from eleven totalling USD 25,326,000: Its bids range from USD 1,092,000 for a licence in Lockwood, Montana, to USD 6,765,000 for one in Pacific Junction, Iowa - the highest bid for a single licence in the auction.
Moving into third place was Radioactive, LLC which has 22 high bids totalling USD 16,209,000 compared to 16 totalling USD 8,966,000 at the end of round 28 on Monday: Its bids range from USD 110,000 for a licence in Sac City, Iowa, to USD 3,253,000 for one in Lanesboro, Minnesota.
Cumulus Licensing LLC, which at the end of round 28 was third with 11 high bids totalling USD 10,771,000 is now fourth with ten high bids totalling USD 8,821,000: Its bids range from USD 119,000 for a licence in St Paul, Arizona, to USD 2,384,000 for one in Lennox, South Dakota.
Previous FCC:
Previous FCC Auction 37:

2004-11-17: Chicago morning host Erich "Mancow" Muller is actively pitching to take over from Howard Stern when the latter moves to Sirius according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
In his column Robert Feder reports that in an agreement expected to be announced this week, Muller signed a three-year deal to be represented in syndication by Oregon-based Talk Radio Network, which already distributes the shows of conservative talk hosts Laura Ingraham and Michael Savage.
Feder also notes that in an interview earlier this month with the trade magazine FMQB, Muller said that Stern's switch to satellite radio provides an opportunity for growth in syndication, commenting, "One of the things that's been tossed around, according to what I've heard from some people at Infinity, is [me] moving to New York and let [Q-101 owner] Emmis get the show for nothing until my contract's up. Let them be the affiliate in Chicago, and then let me take Howard's stations. It sounds like a smart idea. Who else can do it?"
RNW comment: We're tempted to think that a deal with Talk Radio Network probably means there wasn't much in the earlier suggestion of taking over from Stern apart perhaps from a pitch to Infinity and maybe to Westwood One, which Infinity operates and that syndicates Stern's show.
Previous Feder:
Previous Mancow Muller:
Previous Stern:
Chicago Sun-Times - Feder column:

2004-11-17: The White House has now announced formally that President Bush is to nominate Democrat Jonathan Steven Adelstein to be a Commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), for the remainder of a five-year term expiring June 30, 2008.
Adelstein, a former aide to former Democratic Senator Tom Daschle, who was defeated in the recent US elections, has been an FCC Commissioner since 2002.
He is among 18 people whose nominations were announced by the White House.
Previous Adelstein:
Previous FCC:
White House announcement:

2004-11-17: Milwaukee talk host Mark Belling is now back on the air following his suspension over comments made last month about "wetbacks" that led to his eventual suspension as pressure on Clear Channel's WISN-AM mounted (See RNW Nov 10).
The Journal-Sentinel reports that he did not immediately address "the controversy that led to his suspension, but did tell a joke in which the punch line was Vice President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter" saying the joke was aimed at testing how long a leash he will now have at his station, and also saying that he would welcome pickets at the station if they were waitresses from Hooters.
Later he brought up the topic of what he termed "the event" and said of the drive to get him removed from the airwaves that there were "deliberate attempts to use the situation to silence me."
"Many hope or fear this will change me and my program and that I'll be on my constant guard and will pull punches . . . that I've been neutered and I'll be more careful," he said. "This show ain't changing at all."
Some organisations are still calling for Belling's dismissal but others, says the paper, think it is now time to let the issue drop.
Previous Belling:
Previous Clear Channel:
Journal-Sentinel report:

2004-11-17: US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) staff have rejected a petition opposing the USD 10.5 million sale of St Olaf College station WCAL-FM and sister station KMSE-FM in Rochester to Minnesota Public Radio (MPR).
Reacting to the ruling, MPR President Bill Kling told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "We are very pleased that we have been able to keep WCAL and KMSE available as public service radio stations."
Kling has not said exactly what it intends to do with the stations, except to say that it intends to create a format different from its news-and-information station, KNOW-FM and its classical music station, KSJN-FM that "would add to the diversity of public programming" and have "very deep local roots."
Sarah Luttman, MPR's vice president of cultural programming, said the new format will be announced in January but that after the sale is final, KSJN, whose programming in to be simulcast on WCAL and KMSE, will make some changes in its format, including expanding classical music into its morning hours.
The paper reports that in its dismissal of the petition against the sale by SaveWCAL, which it termed "without merit", that some of the body's arguments were "frivolous."
SaveWCAL on its web site says it has received an "initial first-stage decision made by FCC staff members, not administrative judges or the FCC commission itself" and goes on to comment, "We are not surprised at this initial FCC ruling, nor are we deterred."
"MPR and St. Olaf's claim that the sale must now be closed within 10 days is due to language in their purchase agreement, not to federal regulations."
"SaveWCAL now has 30 days to respond to this ruling and file an appeal with the FCC. We are reviewing the FCC ruling carefully to evaluate our prospects for a successful appeal. We continue to monitor the actions of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting regarding the complaint we filed on the process by which St. Olaf made its decision to sell WCAL."
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Star-Tribune report:
SaveWCAL web site:

2004-11-16: UK Chrysalis shares dropped 6.2% on Monday following its comments that following a weak October it now expected flat revenues for the first quarter of its 2005 financial year.
"Given this weaker than expected start to the year, coupled with the recent disappointing RAJAR figures," it said in releasing its preliminary results, "we believe it prudent to take a more cautious approach to revenue growth for the remainder of the year and are budgeting for this to be within the 4-5% range."
The results showed that for the financial year to the end of August like for like results excluding figures for Chrysalis Television which it sold in August last year, its group turnover was up 3.2% to GBP 164.2 million (USD 303.1 million) with EBITA (earnings before interest, tax and amortisation) more than doubled from a restated GBP 4.8 million (USD 8.6 million) to GBP 11 million (USD 19.7 million) and total operating profits more than tripled at GBP 8.3 million (USD 14.9 million), up from a restated GBP 1.8 million (USD 3.2 million).
Chairman Chris Wright said of the figures, "These results are testament to the successful execution of our ongoing corporate strategy. We are now in a position to capitalise on the significant competitive advantages we have gained through building up both a major market, brand-led radio division and a leading independent music business."
Chief Executive Richard Huntingford commented, "This is a strong set of results for the Chrysalis Group, particularly from our two key operating divisions, Radio and Music, which have once again demonstrated their ability to outperform their peer group. We are confident that we can continue to deliver on our "outperformance" mantra and look forward to another year of good growth for the Group."
In divisional terms, excluding Chrysalis Television, Chrysalis Radio revenues, despite flat audiences were up 20.9% to GBP67.7m (USD 121.4 million) compared to an industry revenue growth of 8.6% and radio EBITA was up 48.2% to a record GBP14.0m (USD.1 25 million). Excluding losses incurred at LBC and our investment in digital, it says EBITA for analogue music radio grew by more than 31% to reach GBP20.3m (USD 36.4 million) and corresponding revenues were up 19.7% to GBP61.2m (USD 109.7 million).
Within the radio division Heart revenues grew 22.1% despite a 2% audience decline; Galaxy revenues grew 14.6% despite a 3% audience decline; and LBC, whilst still losing money, grew revenues by more than 40% with audiences up 9%.
Digital investment in the year was up from GBP 2.1 million (USD 3.8 million) a year earlier to GBP 2.8 million (USD 5 million, accounted for by he costs of Chrysalis's digital licences and costs of audience measurement. Chrysalis notes that digital listening is increasingly important to it and according to the latest survey it has added 689,000 digital listeners to those on analogue. Chrysalis says it expects digital investment to peak at GBP 3 million (USD 5.35 million) in the current year and remain at this level.
Chrysalis Music revenues were up slightly from GBP 70.6 million (USD 126 million) to GBP 71.4 million (USD 127 million) but its Books division saw revenues down from GBP 30.7 million (USD 54.8 million) to GBP 27.4 million (USD 48.9 million) with an EBITA loss of GBP 2.1 million (USD 3.75 million (down from a restated loss of GBP 3.6 million (USD 6.42 million) a year earlier.
An independent review and evaluation of the books division is currently in progress and it is widely thought the division might be sold.
Commenting on anticipated consolidation in UK radio, Huntingford said the group would not rush into a major deal and did not intend to overpay for media assets as he thought a lot of people had done.
He said there was plenty of room to expand organically without making acquisitions although it was continuing to examine possible acquisitions.
Huntingford also expressed disappointment with latest RAJAR ratings that showed Heart losing ground to Capital FM in London and said its own date showed the two "very much neck to neck" in London. But added that he would not be joining in attacks on RAJAR made by the Wireless Group, which has sued the ratings company for what it claims are revenues lost through being under-rated by the diary system employed by RAJAR as opposed to electronic metering (See RNW Nov 4).
Previous Chrysalis:
Previous Huntingford:
Previous Wright:

2004-11-16: Total bids in the US Federal Communications Commission's Auction 37 rose by another fifth on Monday, ending the day at the end of round 28 with a grand total of USD 173,063,400 in bids compared to USD 143,804,100 at the end of round 21 on Friday.
There was no change in the three top bidders, College Creek Broadcasting, Bigglesworth Broadcasting and Cumulus Licensing LLC.
College Creek now has 45 high bids totalling USD 30,744,000, up from 37 high bids totalling USD 26,958,000: They range from a low of USD 63,000 - for licences in Ala Jara and Alas Animas in Colorado - to a high of USD 4,025,000 for a licence for Mesquite, Nevada.
Bigglesworth Broadcasting now has 11 high bids totalling USD 25,326,000, up from 11 bids totalling USD 13,358,000: They range up from a bid of USD 855,000 for a licence in Allen, Nebraska, to USD 6,765,000 for a licence in Pacific Junction, Iowa where College Creek was the top bidder at the end of last week. The amount is the highest bid for a single licence in the auction.
Third placed Cumulus now has a total of 11 high bids totalling USD 10,771,000, up from nine totalling USD 8,984,000 at the end of last week. Its bids range in value from USD 150,000 for a licence in Humboldt, Nebraska, to USD 2,384,000 for a licence in Lennox, South Dakota:
Previous FCC:
Previous FCC Auction 37:

2004-11-16: In more US radio results Interep has reported third quarter revenues up 62/2% on a year earlier to $37.4 million; the increase came largely from a USD 18.8 million contract-termination settlement with Citadel following the latter's move to Katz Media for all its business (See RNW Oct 4, 2003).
The Citadel move also cost Interep revenue - third quarter commission was down 19.4% to USD 18.6 million - for the first nine months it is down 12.6% to USD 56.1 million - and Interep says a "significant portion of these decreases" is down to the cancellation of the Citadel contract.
Interep also noted a "dramatic softness in national spot advertising" because of a sluggish economic recovery in general and a switch towards TV advertising by advertisers in Olympic years and chairman and CEO Ralph Guild commented, "The decrease in national radio spending for the third quarter was expected during an Olympic year, as ad dollars are typically diverted to this television-centric event."
"The top categories for national radio - Retail, Automotive and Telecom - remain soft," he said but added that they were seeing growth trends from some other categories such as Consumer Products, Banks, Computers, and Insurance.
Overall Interep turned a net loss applicable to common shareholders of USD 18.9 million (USD 1.85 a share) a year ago to net income of USD 10.2 million (USD 0.94 a share) in the quarter and for the first nine months trimmed its loss from USD 32.4 million (USD 3.16 per share) to a loss of USD 5.1 million (USD 0.48 per share).
The company has not issued a forth quarter forecast but SVP and CFO Bill McEntee said Interep was continuing to reduce operating costs and was cautiously bullish, saying, "We are now 60 days into our Sustainable Momentum program which focuses on growing our core business while aggressively managing expenses."
Previous Guild:
Previous Interep:
Previous McEntee:

2004-11-16: UK Guardian Media Group's Jazz FM in London is to be allowed by UK media regulator Ofcom to drop traditional jazz from its daytime schedules, which will now have more soul and R&B together with modern jazz according to the UK Guardian, which is owned by the same organization.
Ofcom has agreed to allow a format change at the station, whose licence stipulated 50% of daytime output had to be jazz. The station has never made a profit in its 13 years life but GMG Radio chief executive John Myers forecast that GMG Radio would move into profit this year after reporting a loss of GBP 2.1million (USD 3.75 million) last year, down from three times that a year earlier.
Myers said of the change, "The policy we are going on is ratings by day, reputation by night", adding, "Jazz is much more of a night-time listen so the changes fit well,"
Last year GMG announced that it was re-branding its then Jazz FM station in Manchester to a Smooth FM format with a broader range of music (See RNW Dec 9, 2003)
Previous GMG:
Previous Myers:
Previous Ofcom:
UK Guardian report:

2004-11-16: Clear Channel has flipped yet another station to a Spanish language format, this time CHR/Rhythmic KWID-FM, Las Vegas, which has been reformatted to the "La Preciosa" Mexican Oldies format. The move follows the flip of Houston former heritage rock station KLOL-FM that is now "Spanish-English/CHR" Mega 101 FM (See RNW Nov 14).
Clear Channel already airs the "La Preciosa" format at six stations including former rock format KSJO-FM, San Jose, which was flipped towards the end of last month and former oldies KFSO-FM, Fresno, which was flipped earlier in the month.
The switches to Spanish-language programming are part of a Clear Channel initiative announced in September that is expected to see some 20 to 25 stations move from English formats.
Previous Clear Channel:

2004-11-16: The UK regulator Ofcom upheld no complaints against either radio or TV in its latest complaints bulletin: it lists to total of five TV and two radio complaints that were not upheld compared to one standards complaint against radio upheld and one TV case considered resolved in the previous bulletin.
In addition it lists a further 147 complaints concerning 131 items - 13 radio complaints concerning 13 items and 134 TV complaints concerning 118 items - that were held to be not in breach or out of remit. This compares with 173 TV complaints relating to 142 items and ten radio complaints relating to 12 items that were not upheld or were out of the regulator's remit in the previous bulletin.
Previous Ofcom:
Previous Ofcom complaints:

2004-11-15: This week, to start our look at print comment on radio, we again diverge slightly from our normal brief and return to the issue of US indecency regulation where the main cases currently involved concern TV.
They relate to Viacom's fight against the US 550,000 penalty from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the Janet Jackson partial breast exposure at the Super Bowl halftime show and the subsequent decision by a number of ABC affiliates not to air Saving Private Ryan because of the swearing in the movie.
Reporting on Viacom's decision to fight Leon Lazaroff in the Chicago Tribune says it is one of only a few media companies that would have the resources and will to take on the government "over an issue as culturally and politically charged as indecency."
In its submission opposing the penalty, Viacom wrote that "no court has ever approved the FCC's assertion of a national broadcast standard, and the agency has managed to keep the matter from being litigated through enforcement policies that have successfully avoided judicial review" and Lazaroff quotes Glenn Manishin, a communications attorney with Kelley Drye & Warren in Washington as saying, "Viacom is taking a hard line here by attacking the constitutional foundations of indecency regulation because they're afraid that the political ebb and flow leaves them at the mercy of changing enforcement parameters."
Lara Mahaney, director of corporate and entertainment affairs for Parents Television Council, said, "This is just another example of Viacom's unwillingness to follow the law. They never want to pay any indecency fines."
RNW note: Since Viacom is may end up going all the way to the US Supreme Court to determine what is permissible law the Mahaney comment strikes us as at the best meaningless PR guff spouted for effect and something that could be reasonably described as a combination of misrepresentation of the facts combined with an inane statement of the obvious: What corporation ever actually wants to pay any fine?
The easiest business decision to take in the short-term however would be to pay up and this is what the San Antonio Express-News says in an editorial is what Viacom should do, although it suggests that in fighting the case Viacom believes outrage has now dimmed.
"Viacom should do itself a favor," it says. "Pay the fine. The legal fees for contesting it will be much more than USD 550,000. Besides, this particular chapter of the nation's cultural wars should be brought to a close - in time for next year's Super Bowl show.
RNW comment: We cannot quite see how any dimming or otherwise of outrage will affect a Supreme Court Decision, should it choose to hear the case, on this matter. If it does, the court, whose job is not to measure outrage but determine legality, should be ashamed of itself. At the same time, we can see that the cheapest immediate action is to pay up and regard it as to Viacom's credit that it hasn't buckled at the first whiff of fire.
We would regard it as a public service were this case to go up to the Supreme Court for clarification on what rules are permissible and how clearly they have to be stated in advance and feel that this is a matter where for the good of the public there should be a mechanism for the court itself to choose to hear- and finance the hearing of - cases vital to freedom of speech.

As we noted at the start, the knock-on effects of the decision has already led to stations censoring themselves in what they air because of potential fines over swearing whereas a brief glimpse of part of the human body led to massive - and orchestrated - outrage - bigoted, inaccurate and racist comments by US talk show hosts don't seem to concern many of those with "values" opposed to "indecency."
The latest example, of course, is from Milwaukee and an editorial in the Oshkosh Northwestern, Wisconsin, takes up the issues of Mark Belling's comments about "wetbacks" and voting (See RNW Nov 9).
It starts, "It is the old chicken and the egg conundrum. Did a coarsening of political discussion help create bombastic talk radio hosts? Or did radio talk show hosts in search of higher ratings create a climate where shouting and name-calling replaced civil discourse on the issues of the day?"
"Regardless of which came first, the super charged emotions surrounding the presidential election of 2004 created an atmosphere where talk shows hosts who lacked intellectual capacity to debate issues raced to see who could be the most outrageous. The landslide winner is none other than Milwaukee's own ultra conservative radio host Mark Belling, who unleashed an ethnic slur to incense his audience prior to the election."
Clearly very much against the host's remarks, it attacks both Belling and station owner Clear Channel, saying, "Belling made the situation worse with a non-apology, apology, saying he probably should have used "another mean word" to describe illegal Mexican immigrants. He has yet to explain why he thought 'another mean word' was appropriate to the discussion… The station obviously did not understand the gravity of the offense or it would have acted sooner."
"By taking 11 days to do the right thing, the radio station gave tacit approval to Belling's remarks."
It then says, "The episode is larger than the future one radio talk show host in Milwaukee. It speaks to the frightening appetite radio audiences have for the cheap, thoughtless yapping that passes for public discussion of issues today. Take your pick, Rush Limbaugh on the right or Al Franken on the left, commercial radio and television commentary has become more and more polluted and devoid of intelligent thought. Is it any wonder why candidates are demonized or that the public as a whole has abandoned rational discussion of ideas?"
"The American public can take back the political high ground but it will take will power to change your radio listening habits. The ratings only encourage these insufferable radio pundits and their stations. The Belling case proves the only message radio stations understand is the economic one."
RNW comment: We note that the paper is not calling for censorship through the law but is, quite reasonably in our view, suggesting that the best sanction is that which can be delivered by a public that decides that most of its members don't want the comments. In the case of Belling, Clear Channel has clearly been stung by the withdrawal of advertising support: We suspect that were Viacom to believe the same would happen at the next Super Bowl were it to upset people again, there would - indeed already will be - be extra vigilance next time irrespective of any legal rulings.
Former Viacom president and COO Mel Karmazin, who gave the keynote address to the 12th annual NAB European Radio Show, held in Lisbon, Portugal, has also commented on indecency issues.
In Billboard radio monitor Emmanual Legrand quotes him as saying he "hoped clearer guidelines emerged on what was acceptable and what was not.
"In the United States, indecency is protected speech under the constitution," said Karmazin. "This means that you are allowed to broadcast indecency. Nobody is broadcasting indecency during daytime. What has happened is that some broadcasters have adopted a talk format and many of the talk radio performers are not interest in appealing to an over-50 audience but to an 18-34 year old demo."
"And it would be ridiculous having programming targeting the 18-34 year old that is not going to include the topic of sex. The government has never said that you can't discuss sex on the radio. Life would be so much easier if the government had said 'You cannot discuss sex on the radio.' We would have taken it to court and the Supreme Court would have said they're right or whatever and we would have lived by the rules."
Karmazin also commented on another area of regulation where the courts are already involved and likely to remain so for a while - that of media ownership regulation where there is much opposition to the giants that already exist.
According to Karmazin, the US needs more not less consolidation. "There is a need for more consolidation but there is no sympathy for it on both sides of the [political spectrum] right now for any change," he said. "Even with a Republican administration, there have not been many moves towards deregulation. It's a problem, and if you can't grow [the radio business], investors will look somewhere else."
A switch in investment, he added, in his opinion "would be very bad for the industry and one of the things that helps you become important is consolidation. If radio is not going to be today a big growing part of the companies that own it, then you will probably see a cycle of companies selling. What excitement can there be in owning 84 stations when there is no limit to the number of cable networks you can own."
Karmazin also commented for the first time on Howard Stern's jump to Sirius, saying, "I think that was brilliant for Howard. The jury is out on whether or not it is good for anybody else. It is an unbelievable deal…for Howard. He already makes tremendous amounts of money, he will make even more money."
"It is probably not good news for Viacom, because if they did not want him they would have fired him, so the assumption is that they wanted him. It is not good for Viacom and the question is 'Is it good for Sirius,' and who knows?"
And as to what satellite needs to make it successful, he commented that exclusive content was vital, saying, "The question is whether or not Stern and the major league baseball, or other deals, will pay off. But if they do not have content I can guarantee you they would fail. Will they win with this content? Maybe. If they didn't have desirable content, would they win? The answer is no. You can have 200 radio stations available [on satellite], but if there's nothing on that is different to the 200 stations that exist already then you will fail."
And that, of course, is our cue for suggested listening this week. And first up we'd suggest BBC World Service next Friday at various times when the very final John Peel show is broadcast: It's the last of three programmes he recorded before going on his break - the penultimate one is still on the site until Friday.
After which we'd suggest the BBC Radio 4 site for a rather quirky programme that aired last Tuesday and is on the site. It was Speaking from the Belly, presented by Nina Conti, and looked, with commentary from Ken Campbell at the art of ventriloquism.
And from the same station on the same day came the The Fisk Jubilee Singers, the story of the group of freed slaves who first sang to white audiences in 1871 to raise funds to keep going their school in Nashville, Tennessee. They were successful to the degree that they not only saved the school but also guaranteed the future of Fisk University although critics object to the concessions they had to make to European choral style to make their performances of Negro Spirituals succeed.
And for another look at human prejudices, Radio 4 on Wednesday aired The Cutteslowe Walls, the story of high brick roads built in 1934 by a private developer in North Oxford across roads linking his houses with adjacent public housing, thus creating difficulties for tenants of the latter in getting access to public transport and shops. The campaign to get them demolished ran until 1959.
And from this Friday on Radio 4 (11:00 GMT), we'd suggest What's Wrong with Gay Math, a look at the world's first public Gay school, Harvey Milk High School in New York City. Named after San Francisco's first openly gay city supervisor, who was assassinated in 1978, it opened in the fall this year amidst considerable opposition including that from State Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long who asked, "Is there a different way to teach homosexuals? Is there gay math? "
Moving away from one area of human controversy to another, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Background Briefing on Sunday (now on the web site) looked in " Nature's Toy Box" at the potential changes nanotechnology in conjunction with biology may bring, changes that in many cases already appear to be ahead of public understanding.
Still with the ABC, we note that this week's edition of Ockham's Razor was the second part of "Food Production", two talks by Colin Tudge, author of "So shall we reap"(What's gone wrong with food and how to fix it). In this programme he argues that capitalism needs to be re-thought from first principles.
Back to the BBC and Radio 3's Sunday Feature made a strong a case that the Colonialism of the past in trying to impose an alien European culture on Africa was responsible for many of the disasters in the continent today - never mind the disasters of earlier as in the Congo where the King of Belgium made the country his personal property and instituted policies leading to the deaths of between five and ten million people. A grim warning about attempting change without consideration of the views of those whose lives you are trying to change - not a single African delegate was present at the 1884 Berlin Conference where delegates from Europe, the USA, and
Russia decided the future of Africa.
We'd suggest listening to this programme before our next suggestion the 15-minute interview by Tavis Smiley of Condoleeza Rice, Assistant to the President for National Security, that we noted on US National Public Radio - history will presumably determine eventually whether she is an ignorant optimist or has presented a realistic view of US successes in fighting terror round the world and creating a liberated and friendly Iraq: An interview to keep for future reference as to the wisdom or folly involved.
And finally, still sticking with an African theme, in Unfinished Business on radio 4 on Saturday James Maw presented the first in a three-part series on how unfinished historical business continues to shape the present in four different countries. In the case of Portugal, wars in its former colonies of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea Bissau prompted the almost bloodless coup that freed it from dictatorship. Next Saturday (10:30 GMT), he looks at Norway and the victimisation of citizens whose parents were Norway's wartime collaborationist government.
Previous Columnists:
ABC Australia - Background Briefing site:
ABC Australia - Ockham's Razor site:
Billboard radio monitor - Legrand
Chicago Tribune - Lazaroff:
Oshkosh Northwestern - editorial:
San Antonio Express-News - editorial:

2004-11-15: Boston investment manager and business format WBIX-AM owner Bradford C. Bleidt attempted suicide because he bought the station with money taken from clients' investment accounts according to a report in the Boston Globe.
The paper says the details emerged from a taped confession that was mailed to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in which he said he had misappropriated "tens of millions" of dollars of his clients' money over 20 years.
He was then pushed into the attempt by a demand from a Greek Orthodox church for USD 1.5 million of its money and, reports the paper, said on the tape, There is a client that needs a million and a half dollars wired into their account that's supposed to be there this morning, and obviously it's not going to be there this morning because the money's gone. I stole it. I used it to buy a radio station, believe it or not."
…"I'm deeply sorry, and I don't expect to ever be forgiven for this," he said. "I'm going to hell, and I've been in hell for years, just with the terror knowing what I've done and the guilt of who I'm doing it to."
The paper says exact details of his suicide attempt, made after he returned home from a WBIX party to mark the station's new 24-hour format and the pending ownership transfer from Bleidt to Christopher Egan, the son of EMC Corp. chairman and founder Richard Egan, have not been released.
Bleidt agreed to buy the station in November 2002 for USD13.2 million, but the deal was not completed until last January and six months later he announced that he was selling the station to Egan for an undisclosed price in a deal supposed to close this month.
The paper says the SEC, which is working to freeze his assets and the assets of one his two investment businesses, Allocation Plus Asset Management Company Inc., said this business was managing around USD 85 million of clients' monies.
George Regan, president of Regan Communications Group, speaking for WBIX, said he did not expect the events to stop the station transfer to Egan, who has been managing the station since Aug. 1 but Silvestre Fontes, senior counsel for the SEC's Boston office, said the deal could be affected as all of Bleidt's suspected assets will be placed in the hands of a receiver who will analyse their status and value.
Boston Globe report:

2004-11-15: A USD 10 million anti-trust lawsuit against Clear Channel that was to have gone to trial in Chicago today has been set back until February 7.
JamSports and Entertainment of Chicago filed its suit in 2002 and in August this year U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly ruled that enough evidence existed for an antitrust lawsuit against Clear Channel Entertainment to proceed and set a trial date for November 15 (See RNW Aug 29).
JamSports has sued both Clear Channel and Paradama Productions, which does business as AMA Pro Racing, for allegedly breaching a contract that would have given JamSports the right to produce and promote the American Motorcycle Association Supercross Series for 2003-09; it says AMA Pro Racing breached a written agreement to negotiate with JamSports exclusively and in good faith.
Previous Clear Channel:

Next column:


2004-11-15: The former deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester, John Stalker, is to head one of the bids for a new Manchester FM licence advertised last week by Ofcom (See RNW Nov 11).
The Wireless Group has said that Stalker would chair the company it has set up to put in a speech-format bid for the licence and the group's business development director, Calum Macaulay said they were "delighted" to have him aboard.
"He has an unrivalled knowledge of the area and shares our passion for creating compelling speech-based radio," said Macaulay. "John also understands media and broadcasting inside out and has a real involvement in the shaping of our proposals as well as an ongoing role if allTALK FM is awarded the licence."
Stalker was involved in controversy over suggestions of a "shoot to kill" policy by British forces in Northern Ireland after he was seconded to head an investigation into the murder of six people in the province.
Later he was accused of misconduct and suspended from the Manchester force in 1986 but returned to the force when the charges were found to be without foundation. He left the force shortly after this in 1988 and wrote an autobiography Stalker that dealt with the affair and around half a million copies. He subsequently became a broadcaster, writer, and media personality, particularly speaking about crime and crime prevention as in his Central TV show Crime Stalker.
In Northern Ireland, where bids for a new Belfast FM licence that was advertised in September (See RNW Sept 9) have to be in by December 8, GWR has joined in a consortium including concert promoter Jim Aiken and former Dublin FM104 chief executive Dermot Hanrahan to bid for the licence.
The two men were investors in FM104, which was sold to Scottish Radio Holdings last year (See RNW Oct 25, 2003) and were also part of the ZED-FM consortium in the bid for the Dublin alternative rock licence that went to Phantom FM (See RNW Nov 9).
The Wireless Group is also bidding for this licence in conjunction with Independent News & Media and other bidders already in the open include CanWest Global Communications, Celador, Emap, SMG, and UTV.
In Dublin, Solas AM is reported by radiowaves FM to have handed back to the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) the religious AM licence it was awarded in 2001. It had wanted an FM licence and says AM costs were prohibitive in comparison but as late as July it had denied reports it was to give up the licence (See RNW Jul 12)
Previous GWR:
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2004-11-15: A New Hampshire artist has launched a lawsuit against conservative US radio host Rush Limbaugh who he says has been using his artwork without permission.
Doug Henry alleges that Limbaugh stopped paying to use his illustrations of Limbaugh after the artist suggested the two publish a coffee-table book of the works, writing in a letter in 2003, "Can you think of a better topic of conversation than this great Limbaugh book on conservatives' coffee tables in the halls of Congress as well as in living rooms across our fruited plain?"
The Concord Monitor says that according to the artist and his attorney Limbaugh refused permission and his attorney's said he would face a fight if he went ahead.
Henry, reports the paper, filed a lawsuit in the federal court in Concord asking a judge to confirm his ownership of the artwork he did for Limbaugh - it is used on the cover of the monthly Limbaugh Letter - and to order Limbaugh to stop using it unless he pays first. The artist adds the paper is also seeking unspecified damages from Limbaugh, who earns about USD 32 million a year, according to Forbes.com.
Papers filed with the court include a letter from Limbaugh's art director spelling out the contract Henry worked under: It says the Limbaugh Letter would pay to use Henry's work just once and that he would own the artwork and the copyright.
When Limbaugh's staff wanted to use the same illustration a second or third time, they paid Henry again, according to receipts included with the lawsuit: Rates were around USD 2,000 for each cover and USD 400 to USD 700 for subsequent use.
Henry says the agreement worked well until last year when he wrote Limbaugh about the coffee table book and other side projects: At the time he wanted to make more money off the works and offered to sell them to Limbaugh if he didn't want to collaborate on the book, according to court records.
Limbaugh's attorney, Kenneth Swezey, reports the paper said the price being asked for the collection of works was "unreasonable" in a letter last year to another of Henry's attorneys and went on to say that Henry had no right to use the illustrations because they belonged to Limbaugh since the artwork was based on a photograph of Limbaugh, the rights to which belong to Limbaugh and his company.
RNW comment: At a glance the details given seem to indicate meanness and greed on part of the host but more to the point, even if the artwork is based on photographs to which Limbaugh owns the rights, this does not give him any right to steal any rights to it although it could possibly give him the right to prevent unauthorized use of it.
In the end analysis, unless Limbaugh's contention is that past payments for use of the artwork were not made (difficult to sustain if the report is accurate) or were made out of generosity because complete rights had already been purchased, we find it difficult to reconcile his actions with that of an honest man.
Should anyone else take and use Limbaugh's copyrighted works to their own profit, we are sure he would take the position they were guilty of theft. Should it be found that he is guilty of the same, we would regard it as but fair that the court should sting his pocket as heavily as it can.

Previous Limbaugh:

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2004-11-14: Last week was fairly routine for the regulators and the most significant event may turn out to be Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Michael K Powell's comments to reporters that he intends to stay on in the post (See RNW Nov 11): Elsewhere there was a steady flow of licensing activity.
In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) has allocated a new community licence in Braidwood, New South Wales, to Braidwood FM Inc., which was already broadcasting on the frequency under a temporary licence; it was the only applicant.
Also in New South Wales, it is proposing to allow the Australian Broadcasting Corporation FM capacity for a future national service and also for commercial service 2BS-AM at Sofala, Burraga and Blayney to enable it to resolve reception difficulties.
In addition it is proposing to increase the antenna height of the 2BXS FM service from 30 metres to 45 metres to reflect the current operating conditions.
The ABA has also proposed changes to specifications of four Gold Coast FMs: They involve community radio service 4MET, which proposes to move transmitter site from Lower Beechmont to Mount Tamborine; commercial service 4HTB-FM and community radio service 4RHI, which want to correct a "minor radiation pattern" discrepancies; and to reduce the effective power of community radio service 4CAB-FM to reduce interference.
Comments on both sets of proposals have to be submitted by December 3.
In Brisbane, the ABA is proposing to allow commercial station 4BC-AM, which has conducted for the past three years, to continue to operate day/night switching, thus enabling it to use a higher daytime power than specified in its licence.
In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has had a fairly quiet time as regards radio: In Ontario it has announced receipt of an application for a commercial licence in Woodstock and has put out a call for other applications with a deadline of January 7 next year.
The CRTC has also announced that at its public hearing in Gatineau, Quebec, on January 10 next year it has added a further application to the agenda, a re-application from CKDO-AM, Oshawa, Ontario, to use 107.7 MHz for a new 250 watts FM transmitter.
It had originally been refused the frequency because it was incompatible with another application by CKMB-FM Barrie but the commission now says that the latter has had to be refused the frequency because could cause unacceptable interference to aeronautical NAV/COM services.
In Ireland the only radio decision from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) was the award in principle of the Dublin City & County Alternative Rock Music Service to Phantom FM (See RNW Nov 9).
Phantom expects to employ around 27 full and part-time staff for its alternative rock and Ireland's Specialist Radio Association, which has been lobbying for specialist music licences, welcomed the announcement. It commented, "Rather than cause further audience fragmentation, we believe that specialized music stations will attract additional listeners who are currently disenfranchised by the lack of real choice on the airwaves. The Association hopes that this move by the Broadcasting Commission will pave the way for further such stations - for example 'Oldies', 'Irish' & 'Jazz' - for which a market clearly exists."
In the UK the main radio activity from Ofcom was to advertise two more new commercial FM licences.
One is for Banbury in Oxfordshire that should reach an adult population of some 70,000 and the other for Manchester, where the potential adult audience is some 1.3 million (See RNW Nov 11).
In the US, the total of bids in the current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) FM licence auction has now hit just under USD 144 million (See RNW Nov 13).
The FCC has also been involved in a number of enforcement actions including the reduction of a fine on a Texas AM from USD 11,000 to USD 8,800 and the admonishment of a Wisconsin non-commercial educational FM; in Colorado it denied transmitter applications from Clear Channel that could have affected future requests for new licences (See RNW Nov 11).
In Kentucky, the FCC reduced from USD 3,000 to USD 2,000 a penalty issued to Louisa Communications, Inc., licensee of WZAQ-FM, Louisa, Kentucky, for failure to register its antenna structure. Louisa had not denied the offence but requested cancellation on the basis of inability to pay: After looking at figures provided the FCC opted for a reduction rather than a cancellation.
In New York State the FCC also reduced on grounds of inability to pay - this time from USD 15,000 to USD 2,000 - penalties on tower owner North Country Repeaters for failure to display the ASR number at the base of the tower and failure to maintain the required painting to ensure good visibility of a tower at Beekmantown.
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2004-11-14: Clear Channel has flipped yet another station to a Spanish language format: The latest to change is heritage rock station KLOL-FM, Houston that has become "Spanish-English/CHR" Mega 101 FM.
The station's web site now has a message "Latino and Proud. Mega 101.1 FM. 10101 songs in a row…New Web site coming soon!!"
Former KLOL PD and Clear Channel, Houston, Director/Rock Programming, Vince Richards, is now to move over to programming the company's classic rock KKRW-FM and new music, KTBZ-FM, The Buzz.
Of KLOL airtime staff, Steve Fixx moves to Midday/afternoons on KKRW, and Wendy Miller moves to middays at the Buzz but left out in the cold are the morning team of Walton & Johnson, plus Outlaw Dave.
Previous Clear Channel:

2004-11-14: A digital radio equivalent of the TV set-top box that allows analogue equipment to receive digital signals is being put on sale in the UK by the Dixons/Currys chain priced at just under GBP 60 (USD 111): The device will enable digital signals to be fed into analogue hi-fi equipment and some DVD home theatre systems.
The device is one of a number of new product announcements in the run up to the Christmas season when UK digital radio is expected to get a further boost: Already digital receivers are outselling analogue ones in the UK in terms of value.
Also announced this week have been a Classic-FM branded Roberts portable receiver with five pre-sets that will automatically tune to Classic FM (Priced at GBP 100, USD 185) and a Prestige edition of Evoke's 1XT receiver with six pre-sets and a walnut veneer (Priced just under GBP 150 - USD 278).
RNW comment: The digital adaptor is a good idea but seems rather over-priced to us since bottom-end TV set-top boxes are around the same price. We would also note various developments that would allow transmission of surround-sound on digital radio and TV are also coming onto the market place with potential further audio enhancement thus on the way.

2004-11-14: Arbitron has announced that, because of lack of subscribers, it has dropped ratings for the Westchester, New York State, market. In a brief announcement to subscribers announcing the cancellation because there was "no longer sufficient subscriber support " it said, "No Fall data is to be released for the Westchester market. However, Westchester County, NY will continue to be surveyed as part of the overall New York market."
Westchester was introduced as a separate market in 2000: It was ranked 61 and all stations below it will now be moved up a rank.
Arbitron has also announced the results of its 2004 elections for the Arbitron Radio Advisory Council.
New members, whose terms start in the New Year, are:
* John Dickey, EVP of Cumulus's, WEBE-FM, Bridgeport, Connecticut (Adult Contemporary - Non Continuous markets only);
* Ed Levine, General Manager of Galaxy Communications WTKV-FM/WTKW-FM, Syracuse, New York (AOR - Continuous markets only);
* Roger Haddon, General Manager of Sunbury Broadcasting's WQKX-FM, Sunbury, PA (CHR/TOP 40 - Non Continuous markets only);
* Michael Kazala, General Sales Manager of Greater Media's WJRZ-FM, Monmouth-Ocean, New Jersey (Gold/Oldies - All markets); and *McHenry Tichenor Jr, Univision Radio President (Hispanic - All markets).
Nick Anthony, vice president and director of Operations for Rubber city's WQMX-FM, Akron, Ohio will serve as chairman for 2005 and Bill Kelly, market manager for Clear Channel's WKBN-AM, Boardman, Ohio, will serve as vice-chairman.
Previous Arbitron:

2004-11-13: Around a thousand people packed St Edmundsbury Cathedral at Bury St Edmunds on Friday for the funeral of British DJ John Peel who died of a heart attack while on a working holiday in Peru last month (See RNW Oct 27). Many others listened to the service broadcast on speakers outside the cathedral.
Music for the funeral began with Mozart's "Ave Velum" sung by the Stowmarket Choral Society, of which his widow Sheila is a member, as the coffin arrived and ended with his favourite song, Teenage Kicks by the Undertones, played accompanied by applause from those waiting outside as the coffin left the Cathedral.
Other music played during the service included Howlin' Wolf's "Going Down Slow"; Roy Orbison's "Running Scared"; Rachmaninov's "Piano Concerto Number Two" and Liverpool Football Club's Kop singing "You'll Never Walk Alone".
Attending apart from his family including widow Sheila, who was with him when he died, his four children and brother, were colleagues from BBC Radio 1, where he was one of the channel's launch DJs, and Radio 4 where he hosted the Home Truths Programme, BBC grandees and members of many of the bands whose music he had played.
They included Jarvis Cocker, Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey, Joan Armatrading, Billy Bragg, Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, and The White Stripes.
Amongst colleagues present were BBC Radio 1 DJ Jo Whiley, who got her break after writing to Peel from university, BBC Radio 2 hosts Johnny Walker and Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 3 World music host Andy Kershaw, who was both discovered and mentored by Peel, and BBC Radio 4 host Laurie Taylor as well as BBC deputy director general Mark Byford, Director of Radio and Music Jenny Abramsky, Radio 1 controller Andy Parfitt and BBC Director of News and former Radio 4 controller Helen Boaden.
In a tribute his former BBC Radio 1 colleague and current Classic FM host Paul Gambaccini said Peel had listened to more music from a wider variety of styles than any other man that had ever lived. He noted that Peel always wanted the late John Walters, his long-term producer, to give his eulogy and commented, "You are probably now with him, talking about Liverpool FC."
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2004-11-13: Total bids in the US Federal Communications Commission's Auction 37 at the end of the week - round 21 - totalled USD 143,804,100 with the three largest bidders at the end of the previous day still leading the bidding.
At the top was College Creek Broadcasting with 37 high bids totalling USD 26,958,000, up from 25 bids totalling USD 18,171,000 at the end of Thursday and ranging from USD 45,000 for a licence in Monticello, Utah to USA 6,150,000, the highest single station bid in the auction so far, for one in Pacific Junction, Iowa
Second with 11 high bids totalling USD 13,358,000, up from 5 bids totalling USD 6,729,000 is Bigglesworth Broadcasting: Its bids ranged from two bids each of USD 234, 000 for North Dakota licences in Burlington and Velva to USD 2,509,000 bid for a licence in Heyworth, Illinois.
Third with nine high bids totalling USD 8,984,000 is Cumulus Licensing LLC with nine high bids totalling 8,984,000, up from six bids totalling USD 5,024,000. Its bids range from USD 178,000 for a licence in Dinosaur, Colorado, to USD 2,384,000 for one in Lennox, South Dakota.
Previous FCC & FCC Auction 37:

2004-11-13: Police in Lahore have arrested two journalists from private community station FM-103 for "disturbing public order" after joining a protest over a cardiac facility according to a report in the Pakistan Daily Times.
Afaq Bokhari, programme manager, and Farhat Abbas Shah, the administration manager of radio FM-103, were granted bail on Thursday.
The paper says police had alleged the two were the only ones they could identify from a group of five men involved in a rally against the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) in front of the institute's premises.
The station's director, however, said the accusation was false and commented, "Nobody held any demonstration. We did broadcast a report against a government hospital and are holding an internal inquiry against the reporter. Since the reporter is in the lock up we could not complete our inquiry. We would be able to say something after the inquiry is complete."
The paper adds that sources have suggested the arrests could have been a government attempt to intimidate the station over its re-broadcasting of BBC Urdu bulletins.
The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has posted on its web site a public notice concerning "certain FM stations" that had been observed "rebroadcasting news of other programmes of foreign broadcasting channels and broadcasting other proscribed material " that it said was in "blatant violation" of their licences and in September PEMRA told the station to stop its broadcasts.
The Lahore High Court last month dismissed a plea to continue the broadcasts but prohibited PEMRA from cancelling the station's licence over the matter.
Pakistan like its neighbour India, has been rolling out private FM licences, issuing 28 in the first phase, ten in the second phase, and 21 in the third phase; So far some 14 stations have gone on air with Karachi having four stations and Islamabad and Lahore each having three.
Daily Times report:
PEMRA web site:

2004-11-13: The past week has seen more suggestions that Howard Stern could move from terrestrial to satellite broadcasting before the start of 2006 when his contract with Viacom ends. Sirius has already indicated that it would be happy with such a move if it could be agreed.
On his show on Wednesday, Stern added strength to suggestions that he could go early, telling his listeners, "A buddy of mine who shall remain nameless says . . . Viacom is trying to get Sirius [Satellite Radio] to pay off my contract and then I would leave early 'cause Sirius is anxious to get the show started."
He also spoke of "legal letters" from Viacom lawyers and the cuts being made to his show by some Infinity affiliates, saying, "Jimmy Kimmel wrote me [that] they're trashing the show [in L.A.], cutting pieces out and putting in more commercials than ever."
He also took a swipe at Infinity President Joel Hollander, saying he was "busy meeting with lawyers [to] see if I violated my contract in some way" and terming him, "'Joel 'dangerously close to losing his position' Hollander.'"
Things if anything worsened when WXRK-FM GM Tom Chiusano intervened to cool things down, and said the matter should not be personalized on air, that Hollander was "no Mel Karmazin (the former Infinity CEO) and is never going to be. He's not fit to fill his shoes. One thing about Mel, when he shook my hand, that was the deal."
Stern has also said he is to appear on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman on Thursday next week and in response to Chiusano pointing out that this was also a Viacom show said, "Letterman's no fan of Viacom, trust me. I've had private conversations with this guy."
Although Viacom did not respond to his latest comments, Viacom co-president Leslie Moonves recently told an analysts conference that Stern's move to satellite was a natural one for him and added, "We'll replace (Stern's show) with programming we think can be more profitable in the future."
The Wall Street Journal on Friday speculated that Stern's attacks on Infinity stemmed from his learning that Viacom had withdrawn its financial support for his legal fight against Clear Channel, which dropped his show amid the crackdown on broadcast indecency.
It says "people close to Infinity say that because Mr. Stern was secretly negotiating with Sirius while enlisting the support of Infinity's legal team in a suit against Clear Channel, Infinity no longer feels compelled to back him."
Stern's main reason for moving to satellite is to escape Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations on indecency but earlier this month Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters petitioned the FCC to extend such provisions to satellite radio.
It is arguing that satellite radio is not heard just by subscribers - pointing out, for example, its inclusion with car rentals - and saying that the satellite companies should have to abide by the same rules as terrestrial ones.
It points out that the satellite companies are also subject to some regulations that apply to terrestrial radio such as Equality of Employment Opportunities and political broadcasts.
RNW comment: We think that Mt Wilson is on a loser here with a very weak argument in terms of subscriptions and virtually no argument at all on the other points in that the rules there are not primarily to do with broadcasting but with other issues as they apply to broadcasting companies.
In a different area of US syndication, Clear Channel's Premiere Radio Networks has announced that conservative talk host Glenn Beck has renewed his contract for his weekday show "The Glenn
Beck Program " and is also to add a new weekend show from the start of next year.
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Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:

2004-11-12: Cumulus's WXZZ-FM, Lexington, Kentucky, has suspended its Z-Rock Morning Show after complaints over a Wednesday broadcast in which on-air personalities Twitch, Mary Jane and Kyle told radio listeners Lexington had banned smoking in cars.
City authorities said that as a result, hundreds of angry callers clogged phone lines to several of its offices and it is to file a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) .
Z-103 general manager Chris Clendenen said initially that he accepted that the city was free to file a complaint but he hoped "cooler heads will prevail."
"It was a stunt, a prank, a joke," he said. "We thought we'd have some fun. We didn't mean to cause any harm or inconvenience to anyone. If we did inconvenience the city, we're sorry."
Subsequently announcing the suspension he said the station did not think the DJs had any malicious intent but decided they had to suspend the crew until the matter was resolved with city officials because of the disruption caused.
Under FCC rules relating to hoaxes false information cannot be broadcast if it can cause "public harm" and does not carry a clear disclaimer saying the report is fiction.
RNW comment: If nothing else, this report intrigues us because so many people obviously believed the report and presumably somewhere in the recesses of their minds may have thought the idea had some merit, which indeed it may in view of time was have observed drivers to swerve when ash has fallen from a cigarette.
We would, however, share Clendenen's hopes that cooler heads will prevail because on an increasing scale from one to ten of offences we'd regard this offence as in the lower half of a grade one offence.

Previous Cumulus:
Lexington Herald-Leader report:

2004-11-12: Total bids in the Federal Communications Commission's Auction 37 at the end of round 18 totalled USD 117,770,200, up 6% on the previous round.
The largest bidders were College Creek Broadcasting with 25 high bids totalling USD 18,171,000 ranging from USD 51,000 for a Dove Creek, Colorado licence to USD 5,083,000 for a Pacific Junction, Iowa, licence; Bigglesworth Broadcasting with five standing high bids totalling USD 6,729,000 and ranging from low of USD 35,000 for a licence in Mitchell, Nevada, to a high of USD 2,225,000 for a licence in Kenova, West Virginia and Cumulus Licensing LLC with six high bids totalling USD 5,024,000 and ranging from USD178,000 for a Dinosaur,Colorado, licence to USD 1,463,000 for a licence in Saltillo, Mississippi.
Previous FCC & FCC Auction 37:

2004-11-12: Austereo's Annual General Meeting in Melbourne has been told that, although the company has made a strong start to its 2005 fiscal year with advertising revenues up in double-digits in September, the effect of the launch of two more commercial FMs and continuing competition from DMG's Australia's existing Nova network make it impossible to predict if the momentum will be kept up.
Chairman Peter Harvie told the meeting Austereo had taken " the changing radio market conditions in its stride" and " held its place as the most successful capital city radio operation in Australia, in audience, sales, and profit terms,"
Noting that the company took 42% of the under 40 audience in the last quarter of the year he said overall it had "conceded very little ground in total audience share for the year" and after noting September advertising success went on to say that October growth had been soft because of the impact of the Federal election.
In the near term he said Austereo expected "the advertising market to deliver double-digit growth for the six months to December 2004" but as regards the full year would only say that previous guidance that 2005 full year profit would be close to that for 2004 - when net profits were down 3.2% on a year earlier to AUD 41.94 million (USD 34.20 million) on revenues up just 1.3% to AUD 245.5 million (USD 200.7 million) - remained "appropriate."
Harvie also said Austereo felt a possible change in Australia's media cross media regulations would be "beneficial" but as it remained to be seen "how this scenario will unfold" it was pointless to speculate about it
Regarding the introduction of digital radio to Australia, he said his company believed the migration to digital should "take place without cost or impediment and be competition free for ten years, given the major investment required for the transition to the new platform."
RNW note: Austereo's shares are up by around a quarter since the Howard government was re-elected amid speculation that if the regulations are changed to allow increased foreign ownership it could become a bid target.
Chief executive Michael Anderson said Austereo had been hit harder than other radio groups by the success of DMG's Nova network, commenting, "In essence, what we've got is a story of two halves - the advertising market remains strong; but we still have the impact of four new licences. The first round of new licences have all been Nova's. Each one of those has essentially been aimed at our audience."
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2004-11-12: According to the Glasgow Daily Herald BBC Radio Scotland lunchtime presenter Lesley Riddoch is to leave the 2- hour daily phone-in show at the end of the year but is likely to be back with the corporation hosting a one-hour show.
Riddoch has been involved in a row over plans to contract out the programme and her bid to take over its production and reports have suggested that the show is to be split into two one-hour shows with current staff handling the first hour and Riddoch taking over the second hour.
The Herald says it was told by a BBC Scotland spokesman insisted that no decision had been taken on what would fill the 12-1pm slot, and the 1-2pm slot but added, "BBC Scotland are still negotiating about a new programme between 1pm and 2pm and we would hope to have our new lunchtime schedule on air as soon as possible.
"Lesley aims to concentrate on a number of projects in the New Year, including Radio Scotland work."
The first hour of the show is still firmly expected to be handled by current staff and Stephen Lowe, a National Union of Journalists official at BBC Scotland, said staff were delighted that management had acknowledged the talent and ability of the show's existing team by giving it the first hour on air at lunchtime but added, "We still disagree with the proposal to outsource the second hour of the lunchtime programme."
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Daily Herald report:

2004-11-12: New Hampshire radio veteran Frank Teas has kept his life thanks to good luck and speedy action from his friends following a collapse after the Red Sox won the World Series but seems to have lost his memories of one of the highlights of his life.
According to 1590.com, Teas who came to be known as "The Voice of Nashua" to decades of WSMN-AM listeners had just said, "I can't believe it. I finally attended a World Series game, the Red Sox won and I had a great time with my son. Before I died I never thought I'd be able to do it" when he collapsed from a heart attack in the back seat of a vehicle belonging to his friend Sy Mahfuz.
Mahfuz told his other companion Jack Tulley to look for a policeman while he called 911 and Teas luck was doubly in because the first officer Tulley found was Sgt. Dan Healy of the Boston University police who fortuitously had a defibrillator.
Teas' son G. Frank Teas, who had gone via the subway to collect his own car, commented, "I thank God my dad didn't get on the subway with me for 10 minutes."
He then went on about the downside for his father. "This is what my mom calls the 'pissah' of all this," says Frank Jr., chuckling. "My dad literally got into Sy Mahfuz's truck and said what a great time he had and then after he woke up in the hospital he doesn't remember anything of the game."
"You know, we didn't even have anything to eat at the game but we did go to the men's room and on the way to the men's room we saw Gene Autry's widow, Jackie Autry, and he remembers seeing her but other than that he has no recollection."
"I said, 'dad, you don't remember Schilling pitching?' He says, 'Nope.' But given the alternative, I like that he's still around to say he can't remember. I plan to download the games from Major League Baseball on the Internet and we're going to watch Game 2 again together when he gets out of the hospital."
Teas Sr., who is 75, has now had a successful coronary double bypass operation to unblock two arteries and his son commented, "And he {the surgeon] even said that (as a result of the bypass operation) dad may have more energy than ever before. When I think of my dad, for a guy of 75, I think he already had quite a bit of energy. So I can't imagine him having more that's actually kind of scary."
1590.com report:

2004-11-11: Total bids in the Federal Communications Commission's Auction 37 have now topped USD 115 million: At the end of round 17 - round 18 starts today - they totalled USD 15,247,000.
The largest bidders were Bigglesworth Broadcasting with ten standing high bids, College Creek Broadcasting with 31 high bids and RadioActive LLC with eight followed by GBH Telecommunications with a bid of USD 3,927,000 for a licence in Brewster, Massachusetts, the second highest bid for a single licence.
Bigglesworth's bids totalled USD 15,247,000 and ranged from a low of USD 35,000 for a licence in Sargent, Nevada, to a high of USD 4,621,000 - the highest single bid in the auction so far - for a licence in Pacific Junction Iowa; those for College Creek totalled 13,201,000 and ranged from a low of USD 52,000 for a licence in Mitchell, Nevada to a high of USD 2,319,000 for a licence in Taft, California; and those for RadioActive totalling USD 4,002,000 and ranging from a low of USD 74,000 for a licence in Crystal Falls, Michigan to a high of USD 1,053,000 for a licence in Hamilton City, California.
Previous FCC:
Previous FCC Auction 37:

2004-11-11: Australian broadcasting group Southern Cross Broadcasting Ltd. expects a "significant increase" in its net profit in its 2005 fiscal year according to its chairman John Dahlsen.
He told shareholders at its annual general meeting that revenues in the three months to the end of September were up 14% on a year earlier; this compares with a 16.8% increase for the 2004 fiscal year running to the end of June (See RNW Aug 28).
Dahlsen added that projections for the next quarter indicated that first quarter growth had not slowed and said beyond that "We have not seen any signs in the market case to suggest any significant market softening in the second half."
Commenting on proposals to ease media regulation in Australia - they currently prohibit newspaper, radio and television companies in the same city from holding more than a 15% stake in each other, and bar foreign companies are barred from controlling more than 15% of an Australian television company and 25% of a newspaper- he said, "Whilst supportive of the proposed changes, we believe they should be extended to further deregulate ownership provisions restricting the number of radio stations a person may control in a market. Relaxing the "two to a market" rule would lead to a more diverse range of popular formats and
provide operational synergistic benefits to broadcasters that would potentially deliver higher quality programming."
"Any change in media laws," said Dahlsen, "will provide more opportunities for the company and we will continue to be alert for acquisition opportunities that add value for our shareholders."
In his comments to the meeting, managing director Tony Bell started off with upbeat comments about Southern Cross's radio operations noting particular success with its Sydney 2UE talk station - "only a minuscule 0.2% off rating Number 2 [in the market], Melbourne 3AW - "still comprehensively winning the ratings battle", and in Brisbane where "4BC and 4BH which have significantly improved in revenue market share over the past twelve months."
Bell said the issuing of new FM licences and increased competition amongst FMs had benefited Southern Cross, saying, "The FM market, which largely competes with itself, and tends not to
impact on the AM market, is still adjusting to a broader spread of audiences. The establishment of an additional commercial FM service in each of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in 2005 will cause
further fragmentation. In an advertising market where ranking is critical, the fragmentation of the FM market has been positive for Southern Cross Broadcasting's AM stations."
"Southern Cross Broadcasting," he concluded, "is now more strongly positioned than ever. Over the past year, we have positioned our company to meet future challenges of a more competitive radio environment, and new or higher costs associated with affiliation fees, regional television localism and digitisation… Our businesses are generating significant cash flow, which is being used to reduce our debt."
"The capital expenditure program associated with the rollout of digital television across our regional network is almost complete, which will free up further cash flow. As a result, we project that our gearing will continue to reduce considerably over the next two-three years, which will put the company on a strong financial footing to capitalise on any acquisition opportunities that may arise."
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2004-11-11: Michael K Powell has told reporters that he plans to stay as chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), chilling speculation that he would step down following the re-election of President Bush.
"It's been one of my great privileges to serve under his leadership and right now that's what I plan to continue to do," Powell told reporters according to Reuters, which added that asked how long he would stay, he said: "No later than 2007," the expiry date of his term.
The agency also reports that new speculation emerged that the name of Democrat FCC Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein, a former aide to Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle who lost his re-election bid, may be among nominations to be sent soon to Congress by the White House. Daschle has urged Adelstein's re-nomination.
Previous Adelstein:
Previous FCC:
Previous Powell:
Reuters report:

2004-11-11: UK media regulator Ofcom has advertised two more new commercial FM licences, one for Banbury in Oxfordshire that should reach an adult population of some 70,000 and the other for Manchester, where the potential adult audience is some 1.3 million, somewhat less than Chrysalis's existing dance and RndB Galaxy 102 service that can reach around 1.6 million adults.
Applications have to be submitted by the end of February 9 next year for each licence with a non-returnable deposit of GBP 1,500 ( USD 2,770) for the Banbury licence and GBP 12,000 ( USD 21,500) for the Manchester licence.
The licences are amongst 30 being advertised by Ofcom and the Manchester licence is expected to attract up to 12 applicants including ones from major groups including Capital, which is thought to be likely to bid with its Xfm alternative format and Emap, expected to bid with the Kerrang! format that has already won an East Midlands regional licence.
Previous Ofcom:

2004-11-11: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reduced from USD 11,000 to USD 8,800 penalties imposed on the licensee of a Mississippi AM for operation of an AM radio station without proper enclosure of its antenna tower, operating with excessive power during post-sunset hours, and failing to discontinue operation at night.
Billy R. Autry, licensee of WKRA-AM, Holly Springs, had admitted the violations but sought a reduction saying that corrective action had been taken, there was no history of other violations, and also that he was unable to pay.
The Commission noted that insufficient documentation - profit and loss accounts for his stations had been provided but not Autry's own tax returns but he as an individual, not a corporation, is the licensee - to support the last claim but reduced the penalty on grounds of a history of overall compliance.
The FCC has also admonished Technology Information Foundation, Ltd, licensee of low power non-commercial educational FM WLFK-LP, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, for broadcasting advertisements.
Technology had not denied airing the announcements but said that three of them were broadcast "without remuneration or promise of future remuneration" and should not therefore be considered in breach.
The FCC opted not to impose a financial penalty but admonished Technology for the two announcements for which it received remuneration and also for its inadequate response to the Commission inquiry, particularly for failure to respond to a specific question directing it to explain the meaning that it ascribed to the promise made to station sponsors that they would receive "favourable mention on our morning show and station breaks."
In Colorado, the FCC has refused applications for a "minor change" of the licensed facilities of Clear Channel stations KFMD-FM, KRFX-FM, and KBPI-FM, all licensed to Denver, Colorado, and an application for an auxiliary facility for station KBPI.
The requests would have allowed KRFX and KFMD to use a diplexed antenna at the licensed KFMD site on Lookout Mountain in Jefferson County, Colorado and also allowed KBPI to operate from a diplexed antenna - to be shared with KALC-FM, Denver - at KALC's current position on the KWGN-TV tower.
The FCC noted that each of the applications requests waiver of Commission's rules to exclude from the antenna HAAT calculation the four radials extending over the Rocky Mountains and in refusing the requests notes that its decision was compelled by the dramatic increase in demand for FM spectrum and its specific conclusions that Class C stations operating with antenna heights substantially below class maximums should no longer enjoy the excessive protection afforded by the rules in the face of competing expressions of interest for new and/or expanded service.
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2004-11-10: XM has claimed complete vindication in the dispute it and Sirius have been involved in with the US National Association of Broadcasters (NAB ) over their provision of traffic and weather services following withdrawal by the NAB of its petition for a Declaratory Ruling from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that they were prohibited from providing local traffic and weather services.
NAB has formally asked for its petition to be withdrawn "as we assess new information demonstrating the growing trend towards transforming what was intended to be a national radio service complementary to local broadcasting into one that will have a highly detrimental impact on local broadcasters' ability to serve the needs of their listeners."
It then went on to comment about other services on satellite radio such as sporting events and says it will continue to monitor the satellite services and bring the matter of potential adverse effects on terrestrial broadcasters up again when "a fuller picture has developed."
XM in its response poured cold water on NAB's original submission and noted that "In response, XM, the Consumer Electronics Association, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Satellite Broadcast and Communications Association, as well as 25,000 XM customers, filed against the petition arguing that to prohibit such services would deny valuable safety services to the public, would illegally modify the XM license and was unconstitutional."
"Why would the NAB suddenly withdraw a petition that it so confidently believed would win approval?" it went on. "Because all indications were that the Commission was poised to rule against the NAB, so it decided to withdraw in a last-minute attempt to save face. As a result, this waste of Commission resources is now at an end."
RNW comment: As we have commented before NAB in our view has become at times far too arrogant and, thinking its lobbying clout means it doesn't have to properly justify its cases, has become slack in developing them despite the very long submissions it frequently puts out.
In the case of NAB v the satellite companies, our view is that NAB's logic has been that action should be taken against those it sees as putative competitors to stop them doing things they have said they will not do and in some cases probably couldn't do profitably: In other words creating a logic that would allow the satellite companies to petition to have NAB members off the air because a host might break an indecency rule not taking action because one has!

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Previous NAB:
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2004-11-10: Milwaukee talk host Mark Belling has now been taken off the air by Clear Channel, although it has not said how long for.
The action follows his use of the term "wetback" 12 days ago (See RNW Nov 9) in a comment on potential voting fraud in a heavily Hispanic area of the city.
Just before his show's 15:00 local time start on WISN-AM an announcement was made saying, "WISN is adamantly opposed to the use of racially offensive language. As a result of his comment and subsequent actions, Mark Belling is currently not on the air."
"We regret the incident occurred, and we look forward to helping educate the public about ethnic diversity. Our focus is to rebuild relations with the Milwaukee community."
The Belling show was then replaced with Sean Hannity's syndicated show.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that Cindy McDowell, vice president and market manager of Clear Channel's six Milwaukee-area stations, did not say how long the suspension would last but did say in a statement, "Everyone deserves a second chance. Mark will return to the air. Right now, both Mark and the station are focusing on how we can educate the public on ethnic diversity."
The paper also reports continuing pressure on Clear Channel from advertisers and groups angered by the comment with some advertisers cancelling spots allied to the show and others with the station. In addition the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution denouncing Belling's use of the slur and threatening to suspend county advertising with Clear Channel stations and six Milwaukee-area state senators and representatives, all Democrats, sent a letter to WISN on Monday critical of Belling and urging the station to "remove his bigotry from the airwaves.
RNW comment: We said yesterday that we expected the severity of Clear Channel's action in this case, like that of a number of other cases, to depend on the strength of protests and particularly the actions of advertisers. The subsequent action seems to validate that view and were Belling not so high in the ratings his future would be very much at risk. In Belling's case he would probably survive elsewhere were he to be dumped - he won a Marconi Award as medium-market radio personality of the year in 2001 and has also filled in on Rush Limbaugh's show.
In our view neither Clear Channel or the host come out of this incident well since the delays in response by the station and in issuing any reasonable, as opposed to half-hearted, apology by Belling indicate to us that both were swayed more by self-interest that any genuine concern at the comments.
We rather think the best response would be that Clear Channel dithers further, advertisers walk away, and both the host and market manager have to do some serious worrying for a while whether they'll remain in employment. At a corporate level, our view is that Clear Channel should keep them on but only on the basis that the pair of take on suitable assignments in their own time to help minority communities for at least a year.
We rather doubt that anyone who can stand in for Limbaugh would wish to take on such commitments but it would be an educative experience and maybe something positive would then come out of the incident - or Belling would be shown up in whatever his true colours are.

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Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel report:

2004-11-10: DJ Rob da Bank yesterday took over the BBC Radio 1 Tuesday through Thursday 23:00-01:00 GMT slot formerly hosted by the late John Peel.
Radio 1 says it has not yet made a long-term decision on Peel's replacement but its web site says da Bank will be hosting the show for the rest of this year and indications are that if he gets a favourable reception he will remain in the slot.
Peel was known for encouragement to new groups and Bank, real name Robert Gorham, is seen as likely to follow in his footsteps in this respect at least.
The channel's head of specialist music Ian Parkinson said that Bank is a very different broadcaster who also has "a very individual and eclectic taste in music" and added that the corporation was committed to "championing the new and the experimental" in the slot.
Bank is a club promoter and record label owner - he founded the Sunday Best club in South London in 1995 and two years later turned it into a record label that began life with then unknown acts Groove Armada, Bent and Lemon Jelly on its books.
In 2002 he was asked to do a pilot for Radio 1 and subsequently with Chris Coco hosted the 05:00 Blue Room chill out show at weekends.
Peel's BBC Radio 4 show "Home Truths" is now being hosted by David Stafford, his former stand-in.
It is still not clear what will happen concerning the future of Peel's audio collection but publishers Transworld have said they would like his widow Sheila to complete the autobiography he had agreed to produce. Peel is thought to have completed between a third and a half of the promised 100,000 words and for the publishers it would seem a good move to have her complete the work particularly in the light of recent successful books from other wives of well-known figures in the UK.
Peel's funeral is to be held next Friday at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds, near his Suffolk home.
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2004-11-10: Stations in the Association of Minnesota Public/Educational Radio Stations (AMPERS) are continuing their fight to try and stop the USD 10.5 million sale to Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) of member station St. Olaf College's classical format WCAL-FM that was announced in August (See RNW Aug 12).
They say that despite some reports "this pending sale to MPR is NOT a done deal" and are calling for continued lobbying against the sale to Minnesota's public radio giant.
The stations have also expressed concern about the effect on their own funding of MPR's dominance and say many people and organizations think that they are members of MPR not independent of it.
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2004-11-09: In a move that could have significant effects on US indecency legislation Viacom has now responded to the USD 550,000 penalty issued to it by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the Super Bowl half time show by not only saying the penalty was "inconsistent" with the Commission's indecency regulations but also that the Notice of Apparent Violation (NAL) violates the First Amendment to the US constitution.
Its 94-page filing adds that the NAL also "places in doubt the constitutionality of the entire FCC indecency enforcement regime" and says the penalty, if upheld, the fine would lead to the end of live TV broadcasts.
Viacom says the Commission has failed to explain how it determines "contemporary community standards" and cannot just say it knows the US mind as justification for its actions, saying its avoidance of the issue of quantifying public taste flies in the face of Supreme Court decisions that
affirm the importance of properly determining such standards.
Regarding the incident itself, it notes that Janet Jackson's breast was only exposed for 9/16 second and asks how the FCC can simultaneously contend that this could be both "brief" and "repeated at length".
It also contends that the FCC failed to show how its tests for indecency were met since the "brief flash of partial nudity" involved was not explicit or graphic, did not "dwell on" or "repeat at length" anything to do with sexual organs or activities and was used neither to titillate nor shock.
RNW comment: Our view on this matter, as noted in our February comment this year, is that in effect the US lost its marbles over the Janet Jackson incident and we took the view then - and still hold it - that this incident, the Opie and Anthony Sex in St Patrick's Cathedral stunt and the Bono comment at the Golden Globes all clearly did not meet the Commission's published guidelines and thus penalties should be fought.
We are therefore pleased that Viacom seems to be prepared to fight the issue all the way up to the Supreme Court if need be and fail to see how, apart from putting on blinkers or rendering judgment with bigotry rather than fairness at the top of its priority list, the courts can do other than throw out the FCC's case.
We suggested then that "Chairman Powell and a number of other commissioners should be sent away for remedial language training" and would maintain our views although we did not then, nor do we now, rule out indecency legislation if properly thought through and enacted with clarity.
In the current situation we think it would be very healthy were the courts to throw the matter back to the Commission and ask the Commissioners to properly justify their actions in the light of the rules their Commission had published.

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Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:

2004-11-09: Long time Milwaukee talk-host Mark Belling of Clear Channel's WISN-AM is still embroiled in a row over his use of the slur "wetbacks" at the end of last month when he was, to quote the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "trying very hard to fan fears of fraud at the polls, resorted over the air last week to a racial slur."
His comment - "You watch the voter turnout on the near south side, heavily Hispanic, and compare it to the voter turnout in any other election, and you're going to see every wetback and every other non-citizen out there voting" - aroused protests and his initial apology, during an interview with Journal Sentinel TV and radio columnist Tim Cuprisin that was broadcast live on his show exacerbated the situation for many .
The paper reports that he said, "I should not have said the term. I should have used a different mean term" and adds that 15 of 20 callers to the show thought he should not have apologized at all.
Subsequently at least one advertiser said he would drop adverts on the show, a Milwaukee Area Technical College board member said he'd seek to stop all the college's advertisements - some USD 57,000 a year - on the station, and a protest was staged outside the stations that included government officials and leaders in the African-American, Arab, American Indian, gay and lesbian, educational, labour and religious communities.
The group is joining with Hispanic leaders in a campaign to challenge the station's licence with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and also says it is to run a letter-writing campaign to get the show's sponsors to drop their advertising.
Clear Channel at first kept its head down, but then at the end of last week - ten days after the initial comment - issued a formal statement from Cindy McDowell, market manager of its six Milwaukee stations.
The statement said in part "WISN Milwaukee is adamantly opposed to the use of racially offensive language. Mark Belling's on-air comment on Oct. 27 was unacceptable. We respect that Mark chose to issue an on-air apology following the incident. WISN management apologizes that this incident occurred."
Belling also issued another apology, saying in part, "…for the last 10 days, I have failed miserably as a communicator, and I have only myself to blame."
"Not only was my use of an ethnically derogatory term completely wrong, but my effort to apologize for this mistake was inept and insensitive."
It concluded, "I hope that the Hispanic community, my listeners and both my supporters and detractors will accept this as a sincere and real apology and judge me going forward on my ability to never make such stupid mistakes again."
"I have learned many lessons in the past 10 days, and one of the things that I have learned is that we are all men of clay feet. I will try to grow and be a better person based on the lessons my terrible mistake has taught me. I am truly sorry."
RNW comment: Judging by the actions taken over a number of other US hosts - all "conservative" -which is an unfair description since not all conservatives are racist or bigots although a rather high percentage seem to be - no firm action will be taken by Clear Channel unless protests continue and advertisers dump the show.
In effect that was the sequence of events during the row about comments comparing Rochester's black mayor to an orang utan on Clear Channel's WHAM-AM that eventually led to the host's dismissal (See
RNW Oct 1, 2003) and on Entercom's WEEI-AM comparing minority students to an escaped gorilla that led to a suspension (See RNW Oct 8, 2003). In another case where Bill O'Reilly used the term wetback on his Fox News Channel show no action was taken and later in an interview the host termed criticism of his use of the word an "outrage."

Previous Clear Channel:
Journal-Sentinel report on protests:
Journal Sentinel - text of Belling's statement:

2004-11-09: BBC Radio One is likely to find itself facing rulings against it by both the Ofcom regulator and the Corporation's own complaints panel over remarks made by (Sir) Elton John on the Chris Moyles breakfast show on Monday.
The singer shortly after 09:00 commented that he hadn't been to the BBC for so long he almost went to "the other building" then continued, "But I saw Tony Blackburn on a walking stick and I thought 'No, it's the wrong fucking place'."
John then added, presumably knowing full well that he was, "I'm not live on air, am I?"
Moyles then apologized and apologized but went on to add "But it's Elton John, so I don't care", which seemed to spur the singer into further expletives as he asked Moyles if the words "wank", "tits", "bugger" and "bollocks" were allowed and continued, "I'm sorry, I have this weird syndrome approaching 10am. Can I please say bugger next week?"
Moyles apologised again and then said, "You're listening to my last show on Radio 1."
A Radio 1 spokesman later said, "Elton was warned several times about swearing. We apologize if we offended anybody."
The singer has been involved in a number of outbursts including an attack on Madonna after she had been voted best live act at the Q Magazine awards- he accused her of lip-syncing and commented "Madonna, best fucking live act? Fuck off."
RNW comment: Should the aim be to stop such outbursts on the air, perhaps Moyles joke needs to be turned into reality. It won't be of course, since his show is doing well in the ratings, but it does betray a lack of genuine concern by Moyles and will, we are fairly sure, show the same lack of genuine concern by the corporation.
The first incident we would accept as the kind of comment that may occasionally slip through in a live broadcast but Moyles subsequent comment in effect invited further examples. As soon as the second set began, the producer in our view should have taken Elton off the air. Both he and Moyles would probably have had tantrums - and we suspect the producer would have feared for his or her job, but we think that if the station is serious about preventing such outbursts it should from now on make it a condition of employment for producers on the show that they must take both Moyles and guest off the air in the event of any future incident.
If it isn't serious about stopping the outbursts then it should refuse condemnation rather than go for hypocritical rulings on this incident.

Previous BBC:
Previous Moyles:

2004-11-09: The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has in principle awarded to licence for the Dublin City & County Alternative Rock Music Service to Phantom FM, one of two applicants - the other was Zed FM - that had made it through to its shortlist. Public hearings were held on the applications last month.
In all there had been five applications for the licence (See RNW Jul 14):
Previous BCI:

2004-11-09: Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) has reported third quarter net revenues up 15% to USD 41.1 million with station operating income up 16% to USD 19.4 million. Pro-forma net revenue was also up 15% but pro forma operating income was only up 8%.
Overall SBS turned a loss of USD 2.4 million ( 4 cents a share) into a profit of USD 12.2 million ( 19cents a share) this year but the figure includes a USD 17 million gain on its USD 30 million sale of the former KPTI-FM, San Francisco
Looking ahead SBS says it expects final quarter net revenues to grow in the mid to high teens.
Commenting on the results chairman and CEO Raúl Alarcón said SBS has succeeded in "translating the investments we have made in our station group into significant improvements in our operating and financial results."
"Our third quarter revenues grew robustly," he added, "exceeding our forecast and ranking SBS among the best performing companies in the industry… Moreover, we are increasingly translating our top line growth into improving cash flows as evidenced by our third quarter Adjusted EBITDA growth of 36%. Going forward, we remain focused on translating our ratings gains into greater revenue shares, while seeking avenues to maximize our strategic position in the nation's top Hispanic markets."
"Through our alliance with Viacom, we have prudently agreed to acquire a full power radio station covering the San Francisco and San Jose markets, while laying the foundation for a cross-promotional partnership with tremendous potential."
"At the same time, through our pending and recent sales of non-strategic assets, we will strengthen our balance sheet and enhance our financial flexibility. As a result of all these efforts, we are very optimistic about our ability to drive future returns for our shareholders."
Previous Alarcón:
Previous SBS:

2004-11-09: A gunman took a New Hampshire radio station off the air for a while at the end of last week through the delayed-action of a bullet from a .22-caliber pistol according to a report in the Portsmouth Herald.
The paper reports that according to WBYY-FM station manager Rick Bean the shot appeared to have been fired from a wooded area near the station in Somersworth on Wednesday, but didn't create problems until Friday, when high winds loosened the bullet, which had lodged 290 feet up in the tower.
Workers found a small hold in the tower during a routine maintenance check on Wednesday morning, eh said, but because it wasn't causing problems and the bullet couldn't be removed, they patched the hole and left.
Bean said he was frustrated with the situation because it appeared that someone was "using the transmitter site for target practice, commenting, "I don't think there are too many moose 290 feet off the ground."
"As opposed to replacing the entire line we repaired the hole, and everything seemed to be going well," Bean explained. "Then winds started shaking the tower and caused the bullet to move."
This caused a short and took the station off the air during its annual five-day canned food drive for Seacoast-area charities and the high winds prevented crews climbing the tower to carry our repairs.
The station eventually went back on air from a temporary tower on Friday evening.
Portsmouth Herald report:

2004-11-08: This week we are concentrating on the effects of technologies on radio in our look at comment on radio and in line with the change in technologies break with tradition with our first segment that comes not from print as such but from a transcript of an Australian Broadcasting Corporation programme.
Music of the Blogospheres that aired a week on go in Radio National's Background Briefing slot (still available online) was a wide-ranging look at Podcasting and its likely impact as well as a look back at the way radio was first explained and promoted to people.
From Nick Piggott of UK GWR came some comments about the changes in habits made at Australian Commercial Radio's annual conference on the Gold Coast: "… it's a big paradigm shift, because we've now got young people who have an expectation about how they're going to consume their media, and they want to create their own experience, they want to take out the bad presenters, they want to take out the songs they don't like, they want to take those adverts out."
"Boy do they want to take the adverts out, they want to become the program director, and when you've got companies like Apple running Itunes, and devices like the Ipod, you're beginning to see the disintermediation of radio. We are disappearing out of the chain as being their main supplier of music and entertainment to them, because they just go and get it somewhere else, and put it on their device and program it themselves. Not really very good news if you work in the radio business, especially if you work on a music station."
…" So is Ipod killing the radio star? Is it hurting our industry right now? Well probably not by itself, but it is part of a change in media consumption that we need to keep an eye on, because the media environment and the way that people can consume media is fragmenting rapidly. ..AOL, when you subscribe to AOL, part of their pitch to you, for 20-pounds a month, is that they'll give you 100 commercial-free radio stations, and they're advertising that hard, it's all over the London Underground at the moment, that if you subscribe to AOL we'll give you 100 channels of radio without any adverts."
…"What do the young people of today think of radio? Because young people of today become 25, 35, they become the 35 pluses. And they said some pretty uncomfortable things about radio. We could see from our own research that in the UK young people are listening less to radio than their parents, and it's in a kind of smoothish decline. Not unsurprising when there's so many other things that they can do. And what they were saying about radio is You know, it doesn't really cut it for me any more, because my expectations are different now. I have an expectation that I can pick a device up and pick any song that I want, so I get frustrated with radio when it doesn't do that for me. And similarly, they were equally as passionate about the Ipod. They just love it."
And from Podcaster Derrick Oien and former MP3. com employee about his product, "The reason I'm calling it the $250-million Music Show is that the company I previously worked at MP3.com was that sued by the record labels for approximately $250-million for a variety of copyright violations and so when I heard some of the podcasters playing music, I kind of was curious as to whether or not this was legal, and actually knew pretty much that it wasn't, so I went out and contacted a bunch of people I know out in the music space to find some really cool music you could hear and I got their permission, and so here you have it, our radio show. We'll end up calling it something else later on…"
From blogger and former President of the Law and Technology Society at Yale Law School Ernest Miller, "Podcasting is going to raise the copyright issues that the Internet has brought to the fore once again. A lot of people are going to be doing their own sort of radio news shows, or blogs, with podcasting, and that's not going to raise a whole lot of issues since that's all their own content."
"But a lot of people are going to want to do radio shows with music and of course they want to use music that they don't have licence or legal permission to use for podcasting, which is not just streaming the music, but allowing downloads, and so we're going to have a whole big legal fight just about that, and what the licensing fees will be, and there's going to be lawsuits and all sorts of things. We're also going to get into something that really hasn't come to the fore yet, which is when people are doing their own little radio shows, they're going to want to start using bits and pieces and quotes from other audio sources."
"Maybe they're going to quote from a sound clip from a favourite TV show or from another radio show, or from a speech that somebody gave, and so we're going to see a lot of copyright issues involving that and involving collections of fair use, since people probably won't be copying everything that we use in small snippets, and it'll become a question of whether or not using these small quotations of sound are going to be fair use."
And from Adam Curry aka John Holden, onetime MTV host and Dutch pirate radio host , "Silicon Valley has sold the broadcasters all these new channels, you know, Oh, we can have satellite radio, that means you know because it's not just a technology, but you can get into someone's car, yes, they have to subscribe and they have to buy a new box, or you can get into someone's car. We had DAB, Digital Audio Broadcast, not exactly the same thing, it's more from terrestrial broadcast towers, but it's going to be crystal clear and we can add all these features, and you can see it, and this game, this ugly love dance has been going on between technology people and broadcasters for a long, long, long, long time and it's all about new channels."
"So now we have [in Podcasting] a way to just distribute more audio programming. I don't see it as anything different than what technology and broadcast people have done together for years and years and years, only this may turn out to be a much more cost effective way of broadcasting than the new infrastructure of satellite radio or direct digital audio broadcasts."
So having set the stage and probably established that the only sure prediction is that lawyers will get more money from the changes, on to some comment about digital radio and satellite radio.
In "The Dawn Of HD Radio" Washington Post staffer Dina ElBoghdady, began with reference to a marketing blitz by Howard University's WHUR-FM when it launched broadcasts in iBiquity's HD digital radio standard.
It was not just about the technical quality she wrote but also "about educating advertisers and consumers. The digital signal can deliver not just music but text, voice and pictures."
"One day it might be possible to press a button to order a CD as it plays on the radio. Or hear customized traffic reports. Or pause or rewind your favourite song. These uses may become possible in just a couple of years, transforming radio from a passive medium to an interactive one.
She then quotes Stephen Jacobs, an assistant professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology: "The average person on the street doesn't know it exists. There's a real consumer education piece that needs to be addressed before people gain an interest in it."
ElBoghdady notes that around a quarter of the 13,000 US terrestrial stations are planning to broadcast digitally within the next few years and also indicates that the switch isn't really optional, writing, "In many ways, the migration is old-fashioned radio's way of staying relevant now that music is beamed digitally via satellite and downloaded from the Internet. Radio broadcasters fear these ways of bringing music to audiences will erode their ability to woo advertisers and the recording studios that supply them with free music. "
She also quotes Laura Behrens, senior media analyst at technology research company GartnerG2 as saying, "Radio has been a well-oiled machine, but the parts are starting to grind no matter how much oil is poured in. So the machine really has to change."
On major problem, as with the introduction of digital radio in the UK, in getting public acceptance is of course the price of receivers, currently around USD 500 for after-market FM/AM digital car stereos
"Whether consumers will pay for it is another question," writes ElBoghdady. "And if these radios proliferate, with interactive features attached, will they prompt laws that restrict their use, the way cell phones have?"
Despite this iBiquity president and CEO Robert J. Struble, while accepting that it will take three to four years before digital radio is mainstream, thinks that over the next 12 years or so most consumers will replace existing receivers - around 800 million of them.
We think the above has reasonably established some of the risks for terrestrial radio but what about satellite. Well that's also gamble, although in our view probably a good one.
In the Monterey Herald we spotted a report by Randy McMullen from the Contra Costa Times that looked at satellite radio with particular reference to the gamble being made by Howard Stern in moving from terrestrial broadcasting.
…" make no mistake," he writes, "Of all the risks involved with someone of Stern's stature jumping to satellite radio, this is the really big one, at least as far as the rest of us shlubs are concerned."
"Stern is saying, in effect, that the reason mainstream radio is so awful is because it's being strangled by uptight regulators and by corporate drones who are too fearful of alienating listeners, advertisers and the feds to serve up decent programming. Now he will have a chance to prove he's right."
"If he is right, if his show crackles with the kind of piercing humour and originality Stern is certainly capable of, he should have little trouble in rebuilding at least a good portion of his current audience of 12 million listeners. And if this happens, he could introduce lots of new customers to Sirius Satellite Radio… But if he is wrong, Stern will play right into his detractors' claims that he is little more than an attention-grabbing, foul-mouthed agitator, a giggly spate of flatulence in the dull tea party that is commercial radio. In other words, the constraints Stern says are killing him could also be making him look good by comparison."
…"Stern is about to leap across the great Pop Cultural Divide, and that has the potential to do great things…The divide goes on and on, but you get my point: For every medium bleached into Wonder Bread flour by financial or political constraints, there is an alternate medium with infinitely more interesting choices. And, thanks to media cross-ownership and our Internet-fuelled demand for instant gratification, the divide is getting easier to navigate."
And finally, before our suggestions for listening, the issue of content but in this case from a limited perspective that formed the theme of Paul Donovan's weekly Radio Waves column in the UK Sunday Times.
He introduces the problem through the dilemma for the Radio 4 Archers programme: "How do you deal with sudden death? Graham Roberts, who played the crusty old gamekeeper George Barford in The Archers for 31 years, passed away in hospital in York 10 days ago. He may have been 75, but his death was wholly unexpected and has thrown the world's oldest broadcast serial into mild disarray. He was due in the studio last week to record scenes going out in December, so the production team is now having to rewrite a sequence of episodes. The bigger question - the long-term one - is whether to recast the character or arrange a tragic accident for him. "
"In London, meanwhile, the BBC is grappling with the consequences of John Peel's equally sudden death. Again, there are short- and long-term difficulties. The immediate challenge is finding other presenters to fill his slots; more intricate is the issue of preserving his legacy."
No answers yet although Donovan notes in the one case, "My instinct is that George, who in the story is now 76, will be sent to the great village in the sky. Recasting Lilian turned her from a lush and sexy vamp into a mad old bat."
And on Peel: "Radio 1 emphasizes that the DJs taking over Peel's three 11pm slots each week, starting with Rob Da Bank on Tuesday, are for 'the short term... any changes will be made with the spirit of John's show at the forefront of our minds. John's commitment to seeking out and championing new music was an example to DJs worldwide. It is too early to say how we can best preserve that legacy, but it is one of our most important objectives for 2005 and beyond.'"
Donovan suggests the decision made after Alistair Cooke of "Letter to America" fame died may provide a clue: "Although Cooke has gone, and the tradition of the same person each week has gone, the essence - the engaging weekly talk from abroad at the same time each week - strongly remains."
And to begin that suggested listening, we first opt for Music of the Blogospheres with which we began and second that with another ABC programme, this time Food Production in the Ockham's Razor science series.
The first of two parts broadcast last Sunday, a commentary from science graduate and writer Colin Tudge, author of "So Shall We Reap", is a fairly well argued case against the current attitudes to food production, specifically turning it into a mass-produced commodity.
He notes that the world has around a billion obese people and a billion living in slums, very often those dispossessed from farming by current agricultural practices.
There is " absolutely no chance" he says that the global market can work in the way enthusiasts say it will. "And we all know, and the Third World farmers make a tremendous fuss about it, and quite rightly, that both in Europe and in the United States, farmers are subsidized to a quite astonishing extent by taxpayers' money, and in the United States, the amount they give far exceeds the Gross National Product of most countries in the world"
"The government," he concludes, " effectively is a part of the agribusiness, and in order to stop these vast subsidies, you would have to rethink United States economy and rethink United States politics from first principles. And that just isn't going to happen."
Still on a world theme, this Friday at 20:50 GMT "A View From..." takes over the BBC Radio 4 slot occupied during the US elections run up by "State of the Union" that itself took over from Letter from America. The commentator this week is Malaysian academic Farish Noor with his inside story.
We'd also suggest from later that evening on Radio 4, Great Lives (23:00 GMT) in which this week civil rights campaigner Shami Chakrabarti talks to Humphrey Carpenter about her choice, George Orwell, whose writings and politics included authoring the anti-Stalinist "Animal Farm" but also defending saturation bombing of German cities. We'll never know for sure how he would have regarded Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay.
For rather more uplifting listening we suggest BBC Radio 2, whose "Young Chorister of the Year" grand final was aired on Sunday: The one-hour show is on the web site for a week.
Still with church music we'd suggest BBC Radio 3 whose "Performance on Sunday" yesterday (On the site on demand" was the 2004 Lichfield Festival Complete performance including Handel's anthem Zadok the Priest, Bach's Magnificat, a Bachian tribute by Knut Nystedt and the premiere of Peter Sculthorpe's Requiem for chorus, orchestra and didgeridoo
Back to Radio 2 and we'd suggest tomorrow night at 20:30 GMT when in "Roots, Rappers and Rednecks" Paul Sexton looks at country music including such topics as the effect of record and radio industry consolidation and the effect that September 11th and the subsequent war on Iraq had upon country music
A third choice from Radio 2 comes on Thursday night at 21:00 GMT when the last of eight "Rockin' with Suzi Q" shows is transmitted.
And going back to Radio 4 the site now has the third and final programme of the series The Last Hitch-Hiker Rides Again in which Kevin Connolly sets out to hitch-hike from Miami to New York whilst tomorrow at 09:30 GMT also looks at some quirky elements of the US in Subway in which Joe Queenan celebrates the centenary of the New York subway by meeting some of the 37,000 employees who work in the system: Those with a greater interest in the subway may find it interesting to compare this with the September 4 version of WFUV's Cityscape programme that featured Stan Fischler, author of "The Subway and the City - Celebrating a Century"
Previous Columnists:
Previous Donovan:
ABC Australia - Background Briefing site:
ABC Australia - Ockham's Razor site:
Monterey Herald - McMullen:
Washington Post - ElBoghdady:

WFUV web site
2004-11-08: Fears are mounting amongst staff at BBC Radio Scotland that a number of current affairs programmes could end up being taken over by their presenters according to the Glasgow Sunday Herald.
The report comes in the wake of a row concerning a proposal by weekday lunchtime presenter Lesley Riddoch to take over her show (See RNW Nov 6): The Herald reports that Riddoch wants her show to be produced by Dundee-based Bona Broadcasting and says the Corporation has denied as wildly inaccurate reports that the move would cost an additional GBP 500,000 ( USD) a year.
The paper says that the corporation insists the costs will be around the same as now although it does not say how this would be achieved if existing staff are to produce the initial noon to 13:00 section of the show with the second hour to 14:00 outsourced.
The paper said a BBC spokesman denied suggestions that there had been a delay in discussions because Riddoch's original programme proposal had been rejected and added, "The BBC is getting a bit more detail on exactly how it would work".
Regarding potential outsourcing of other shows he commented, "If people want to pitch ideas to us, we will listen. But that's no different to before. It already happens in the features department, where, for instance, Janice Forsyth's Saturday morning show is produced by an independent."
Previous BBC:
Previous Riddoch:
Sunday Herald report:

2004-11-08: The National Hall of Fame and Museum of the Museum of Broadcast Communications on Saturday at a gala evening inducted five broadcasters into the Hall - hosts Bob Edwards, Larry Lujack, Dick Purtan, Clear Channel chairman and former CEO Lowry Mays, and the late Walter Winchell.
It also announced that it has now raised half the USD 18 million it needs to build its new museum in downtown Chicago and that the new museum's public program venue will be named the "Angel Harvey Center" in appreciation of her more than $2 million in contributions over the years.
Lynne "Angel" Harvey, wife of syndicated ABC host Paul Harvey, in 1997 became the first producer to enter the Radio Hall of Fame, seven years after her husband had been inducted.
Among other substantial donations that totalled USD 2.35 million announced by the Museum was a pledge of USD 1.3 million from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation for constructing the Museum's new home as an energy efficient "green building."
The new museum is scheduled to re-open in the spring of 2006.
Previous Museum of Broadcast Communications:
Museum web site (Links to Hall of Fame and has details of inductees):

2004-11-07: The last week has seen the regulators more involved in matters other than licensing decisions in a number of areas although in the US the Federal Communications Commission is still working its way through its latest "auction" of FM licences.
In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) was stung into a riposte by media cover of a leaked "draft" of its investigation into complaints about coverage of the Iraq war by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) AM radio program (See RNW Nov 3)
The ABA also issued one licensing decision, the allocation of a new community radio licence in Yarraman, Queensland to Yarraman and Districts Historical Society Inc (YDHS), which is already broadcasting on the frequency under a temporary licence. It was the only applicant.
In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) held hearings on four days last week concerning proposals for radio subscription licences in Canada (See below).
It also made a number of licence decisions including (in order of province):
Alberta:
Approval of new frequency for new English-language FM radio station in Red Deer that had been approved in March subject to finding a suitable alternative frequency to the one originally proposed.
Ontario:
Approval of changes to licence of CHKT-AM, Toronto, to delete conditions restricting the number of hours of programming which the station may direct to the Chinese community, and the hours during which it may broadcast programming in Mandarin and Cantonese. The station was acquired by
Fairchild Radio, a Chinese Canadian multicultural radio network, in 1996 and its format changed from predominantly country music to that of an ethnic radio station.
The amendment was opposed by Radio 1540 Limited (Radio 1540), the licensee of ethnic radio stations CHIN and CHIN-FM Toronto, and the other by Toronto Chinese Radio (TCR). TCR uses the facilities of CKFM-FM Toronto to provide a 24-hour subsidiary communications multiplex operations (SCMO) programming service in Cantonese and Mandarin to the Chinese community in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Both expressed concern that approval of this application would result in a reduction in the diversity of the programming offered by CHKT.
Quebec:
Approval of application to add a 1,580 watts FM transmitter in Saint-Zénon to the licence of CFNJ-FM Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon.
Application by English-language FM Type A community radio FM in Lac-Brome to use an alternative frequency to that originally proposed which was unacceptable.
There was nothing on the radio front from Ireland and in the UK it was fairly quiet although Ofcom has now posted full details of the six applications for the new FM licence for Ashford in Kent (See RNW Licence News Oct 24).
Ofcom has also confirmed the go-ahead for a pilot scheme and published details of the 27 responses it received to its consultation on the proposed community audio distribution system (CADS) that would allow use of Citizens Band frequencies to transmit such programming as local religious community services to housebound religious congregation members (See Licence News Aug 15).
It says none of the concerns expressed - they ranged from "fear that religious services could be jammed or verbal abuse transmitted" to interference concerns - "justify halting the introduction of the new CADS provision on an experimental basis."
"Therefore," it continued, Ofcom can confirm that the licensing regime will begin as of 4 November 2004 for an experimental period of 12 months."
In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) FM licence Auction 37 has now attracted bids totaling USD 36.3 million: At the end of the week Zionsville, Illinois-based Bechtel Broadcasting topped the list of high bidders with a total of five bids that cumulatively totaled USD 3.895 million. They were all for Hawaii licences and ranged in value from USD 528,000 to USD 1.125 million.
Next down was Bayview Capital Ventures, Inc. with a USD 2.03 million bid for a Brewster, Maryland, licence- the highest single licence bid - and third was Citicasters Licenses, L.P. with bids totaling USD 1.862 million - USD 1.06 million for a licence in Anamosa, Iowa and another of USD 798,000 for a licence for Chehalis, Washington.
The FCC also published latest broadcasting station numbers this week (See RNW Nov 4) and has also imposed three USD 10,000 penalties (See below).
Previous ABA:
Previous CRTC:
Previous FCC:
Previous Licence News:
Previous Ofcom:
ABA web site:
CRTC web site:
FCC web site:
Ofcom web site (Links to Ashford licence applications, Around 9 Mb in PDF files):

2004-11-07: Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin has announced that Robert Rabinovitch is to be given another three years as President of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Earlier this month it was reported in Canada that the post had been offered to a former Liberal Minister, who turned it down, and then to Rabinovitch, who was initially offered only a one-year extension but had asked for five years (See RNW Nov 1)
The official announcement, which notes that the "proposed reappointment will be referred to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for review" said Rabinovitch was "well-known for his outstanding career achievements in both the public and private sectors, and for his long-standing commitment to Canada's cultural industry."
"He is admired and respected by his peers, and I am very pleased that he has agreed to continue his work at the CBC," said the Prime Minister's statement.
Rabinovitch said in a statement he was "honoured by this vote of confidence and its implicit acknowledgement of CBC/Radio-Canada's accomplishments over the past five years… It is a great honour to lead such an essential and unique institution. I want to thank the employees of CBC/Radio-Canada for their loyalty and support over the last five years. I also want to thank the Board of Directors, and especially the Chair, Carole Taylor, for their continuing support and belief in the direction we have set for Canada's national public broadcaster."
Previous CBC:
Previous Rabinovitch:

2004-11-07: Splits are reported in Canada over the introduction of satellite radio as testimony was given to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) from a number of artists that they could benefit because their work would be heard by a much wider audience in the US and Canada.
In opposition to them are the recording companies allied with independent producers and composers who are concerned like the Recording Industries Association of America (RIAA) that the services could cut sales of recordings unless restrictions are placed on reception technology to limit recording of material from the services.
One musician, Rob McArthurn from Ajax, Ontario, was quoted in the Ottawa Citizen as saying, "They are more concerned about Canadian content, but they are not the person down there in the kitchen trying to earn a living. I was very disappointed to hear some of the comments from these groups -- some of which I am a member."
As the four days of hearings continued all the bidders for Canadian radio subscription licences - two satellite bids linked with the US satellite radio companies and a terrestrial bid from Chum in conjunction with Astral - stressed their plans for Canadian content.
Canadian Satellite Radio (CSR), which includes XM and Canadian entrepreneur John Bitove, who is its chairman, said that by the end of its seven-year licence term a tenth of its North American programming would be Canadian content and also upped from four to five the number of Canadian channels it would provide. It said it would spend around CAD 70 million (USD 58.5 million) over the term on Canadian programming: This, it said, would include at least CAD 14 million (USD 11.7 million) each on English and French-language talent development, and build studios in Toronto and Montreal.
Sirius Canada Inc., whose consortium includes the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Standard Radio Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio, said it would add a sixth French-language Canadian channel and divide its Canadian talent development fund equally between French and English-language artists.
The CHUM-Astral bid had already said that its terrestrial service - of only around 50 channels to the 100 offered in the satellite bids - would have 35% Canadian content as is currently required of Canadian commercial broadcasters. Its plans would only cover main cities and around 60% of the population but it said it would lift this to three-quarters if it were granted the sole licence.
The satellite companies have said all three bidders should get licences but CHUM says its bid would not be financially viable if three licences were granted. It has not given quantitative details on its plans to boost Canadian artists on its services
Previous Astral:
Previous Bitove:
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Previous XM:

2004-11-07: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has confirmed penalties of USD 10,000 each on two pirate operators and on a Kansas FM for various rules' breaches.
In Florida, it denied reconsideration of a USD 10,000 penalty imposed on Everald Brown of Orlando, who had been found by FCC agents broadcasting from a restaurant.
Brown, who had turned off the transmitter, had not responded to a Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) but when served with a forfeiture order responded that he did not reply earlier because he thought the NAL was a "warning" and also that he had not been aware that the broadcast was unlawful, that he was not the owner or operator of the station, that he had been told others were applying for the licence, that he had subsequently registered with the American Radio Network to go through the legal steps to become a radio broadcaster and that he would send the Commission a copy of his credit report which would show his inability to pay the proposed forfeiture.
The FCC noted that they had not received the credit report, dismissed the other arguments, and confirmed the full penalty.
In Oregon, a USD 10,000 penalty was issued to David Michael Oaks for operation of an unlicensed FM in Beaverton.
Oaks had argued that he had attempted to correct the violation by lowering the power each time he received a notice that he was operating an unlicensed station, but that the agent for the Portland Office did not provide the specific field strength measurements that he requested to determine how far above the legal limit he was operating.
The FCC noted that is not required to engineer the operating parameters of a station but added that Oaks asserted that the agent told him that the effective range for a transmitter operating pursuant to Part 15 of the Rules is about 100 feet, and that if Mr. Oaks chose to do so, he could purchase a Part 15 wireless microphone to compare the range of his signal with that of his station and Oaks did not choose to do so.
It also noted that several notices of unlicensed operation were sent as warnings to Oaks before the NAL was issued.
In Kansas, the American Family Association (AFA), licensee of non-commercial educational KBMP-FM, Enterprise, was fined USD 10,000 for violating the main studio rule relating to location requirements, and for failing to maintain a meaningful management and staff presence at its main studio. It said AFA also failed to comply fully with a Bureau communication that directed it to produce certain information concerning the main studio of Station KBMP
AFA had been issued with the penalty - of USD 7,000 for the location requirement offences and USD 3,000 rather than USD 4,000 for the failure to provide information because partial information - for two of nine categories - had been provided.
In refusing further reduction, the FCC noted that AFA had previously been fined USD 5,000 for operating KBKC-FM, Moberly, Missouri, without a main studio. As in this case, it said, AFA put that station on the air after filing a main studio waiver request, but had not received a grant of that request when it commenced operation of the station without a local main studio.
In the current case it said AFA argues that in this case it brought the violation to the Commission's attention but it noted that AFA is extremely familiar with the requirements of the main studio rule, having obtained waivers of the rule in approximately 60 cases before this one and thus committed an intentional violation of the rule for a period of six months, not long after being assessed a forfeiture for a similar violation at another AFA station. "Under the totality of the circumstances here, " it said, "reduction or elimination of the proposed forfeiture is not appropriate."
RNW comment: Indeed under the" totality of the circumstances" it seems to us it could reasonably be said that AFA deliberately broke the rules and is not fit to hold licences. For once, we would have welcomed an FCC notification that such action might be taken in future should there be a repetition, which of course there would not be.
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2004-11-07: In Australia entries have now been invited for first round of the Siren Awards, new national advertising awards for radio.
Entries, which have to have been aired between January and October this year, have to be in by next Monday for the inaugural awards, which will be in two categories, Radio Single and Radio Campaign, the latter having to include at least three different commercials.
The winning advertising will be posted on the Sirens' web site and winners will receive a trophy, be eligible for a trip to Cannes.
The awards are to be made every two months and an annual winner will automatically be entered into the inaugural Cannes Radio Lions Award in June 2005.
The name was chosen on the basis of the double meaning of the word siren, as a device to attract notice and the half bird half-human figures of Greek mythology that would lute sailors to them and the trophy itself is a contemporary design of the half human, half bird figure.
Siren Awards site:

2004-11-07: In more US radio results Denver-based NextMedia reported third quarter revenues up 11.5% to USD 31.0 million but operating income moved from a USD 5.9 million plus a year ago to a USD 10.6 million loss as a result of an impairment loss related to the company's alternative advertising market'
Overall net income was down to a loss of USD 13.4 million from a positive USD 16.5 million a year earlier.
Pro-forma figures showed net revenues for the quarter up 4.4% to USD 31 million and pro forma broadcast cash flow was up 4.9% to USD 1.28 million. Pro forma radio division net revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% to USD 21.2 million with pro forma BCF up 6.1% to USD 8.7 million compared to a 2.5% pro forma increase to USD 4.1 million for the company's outdoor division.
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2004-11-06: In more US third quarter results, Spanish-language conglomerate Univision has producers extremely strong results conmpared to English-language companies reporting.
Univision saw its third quarter revenues up 49% to USD 477.4 million compared to a year ago, operating income before depreciation and amortization up 53% to USD167.9 million and net income up 74% to USD73.4 million with diluted earnings per share up from 16 cents to 21 cents.
On a pro forma basis taking in the effects of its takeover of Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation in 2003, third quarter 2004 net revenue increased 21% to USD477.4 million, pro forma operating income before depreciation and amortization increased 38% to USD167.9 million and pro forma net income increased 67% to USD73.4 million with earnings per share up from 12 cents to 21 cents.
In divisional terms, TV revenues were up 15.6% to USD 328 million and TV operating income was up 16.5% to USD 124.7 million; radio revenues were up more than tenfold from USD 7.4 million to USD 79 million and radio operating income was up tenfold to USD 35.1 million (radio was only acquired on September 22, 2003); music revenues were up just above double to USD 54.9 million and music operating income was up nearly tenfold from USD 1.1 million to USD 9.5 million; and internet revenues were 9.8% to USD 4.5 million with internet operating losses cut from USD 1.7 million to USD 1.4 million.
In the final quarter Univision says it is expecting low-double-digit revenue increases.
Commenting on the overall performance, Univision chairman and CEO A. Jerrold Perenchio said, "In a period of challenging market conditions, Univision delivered record third quarter operating results, with the growth of our businesses outpacing the core growth of our English-language television and radio competitors. Univision is a far stronger, more broadly based company today than it has ever been, and we maintain our commitment to investing in our businesses and building on our momentum to maximize shareholder value."
Commenting on the radio performance, Univision Radio president McHenry T. Tichenor, Jr. said Univision was "pleased with the radio division's third quarter performance, with pro forma revenue growth of 10% compared to 1% for the radio industry overall, and earnings before depreciation and amortization up a strong 23%. "
"Integrated sales initiatives with Univision's other media divisions are an increasingly important element of our success, adding approximately 2% to the radio division's growth rate in the third quarter. During the quarter, we celebrated our first anniversary as Univision Radio, and we are now better positioned than ever. Over the past year, our audience shares are up 9% on a revenue weighted basis, and we are just beginning to tap into the cross promotional, talent building, and complementary programming opportunities that the combination of radio with the other Univision platforms has afforded us."
Fisher Communications saw third quarter revenues up 11.1% to USD 40.3 million but overall its net losses climbed from USD4.3 millions to USD5.2 millions (from 50 cents a share to 60 cents a share) with losses from continuing operations up from USD 3.3 million to USD 5.2 millions (from 38 cents a share to 60 cents a share).
Figures for the quarter included a loss of USD2.7 million on derivative instruments this year compared to a gain of USD 49,000 in the third quarter of 2003
Fisher noted that its revenue gains this year were primarily from political advertising although local advertising was also up and President and CEO William W. Krippaehne Jr. commented, "We saw strong candidate and advocacy advertising during the third quarter of 2004. Though the industry has seen a general softness in other national advertising, we are beginning to see positive signs that the Northwest economy is improving, and we are pleased that ABC television network programming is showing early signs of success this season [nearly half the company revenues come from its two ABC affiliates in Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon]."
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2004-11-06: BBC Radio Scotland staff in Glasgow are up in arms about a proposal from lunchtime host Lesley Riddoch that her production company should take over the running of the programme and sell it back to the Corporation according to a report in the Scotsman.
The paper reports that the staff say the move, which would help the BBC meet a quota of taking 25% of programming from independent producers and make Riddoch more money, would also cost the corporation some GBP 500,000 (USD 920,000) a year and put staff jobs at risk.
The paper quotes an unnamed insider as saying there was a "a really stormy meeting held with all the newsroom staff, and management were accused of rolling over to Lesley Riddoch's proposals."
"Clearly, this move would allow her to make far more money, but the biggest bone of contention among BBC staff is the fact it could mean up to 15 researchers and assistant producers could be made redundant, unless alternative jobs can be found for them within the BBC."
Parallels were drawn with the BBC2 Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark's production company.
The Scotsman quoted Peter Murray, a member of the National Union of Journalists' National Executive and a BBC employee, as saying, the union and listeners were opposed to the move.
"If this happens, then it will be a bit of a bombshell for us," he said. "All the staff have been united in objection to this proposal from the outset and there has been a huge public outcry about it as well, which I think has surprised the management."
"The impetus for this came from Lesley Riddoch herself and not from the management, but we would have thought management would have said no to this at the outset."
"Staff on her show," he added, "have been asked to come up with proposals for how they might run the first hour of the show, but our concern is that half the 15-strong team could lose their jobs if there is half the work for them."
A BBC spokesman said: "Nothing is definite at the moment. We are talking with Lesley and we are discussing all the options open to us. We are looking to enhance and improve the programme and we highly regard those who work on it. There is no problem with them whatsoever."
Riddoch herself made no comment but the paper quoted a "source at the BBC who is close to Riddoch" as saying she was frustrated by the situation as she can't say anything while negotiations are in progress and adding, "She does believe the move will create more jobs rather than lead to their loss and hopes it will all be resolved within the next two weeks so everyone can concentrate on broadcasting again."
The paper also published a leader "Voice of Capitalism" on the row in which it commented, "From one never slow to scold cost-cutting capitalist oppressors, the plan is rich. But is this really market-driven? The BBC is financed by licence-payers. When it agreed to outsource 25 per cent of its output to independent producers in the name of diversity, did this really mean that existing presenters could waltz off and get themselves re-hired on generous budgets as "independents"? Independent from what, exactly? In this chutzpah capitalism, who exactly is in overall charge of what is a current-affairs programme?" and concluded, "Both parties should also remember who's footing the bill."
RNW comment: In this issue there are a number of conflicting principles that in themselves are all fine but where a balance needs to be struck. Our view is that it is to the overall benefit if there is an independent sector of reasonable strength in UK radio and also that from the point of view of the listeners and fee payers the issue of one of the programming they get and the value for money involved.
If in fact there is a demonstrable extra cost of the level indicated Ms Riddoch should have to both demonstrate the extra benefits that will come with the deal for listeners and also put forward a significant personal guarantee-no limited liability company get-out - to stop a bid that takes the deal and then a while later trims back to produce a worse programme.
If this is not so and there are cost benefits from contracting out the programme, then it seems to us that the Corporation, at the very least, should be considering other tenders. Maybe the staff themselves should form a consortium to put forward a bid - and if they can find talent to front it without Ms Riddoch that should be no bar to them taking the show without the host, who certainly would seem to be in this for her own benefit rather than having given due consideration to the interests of staff with whom she has been working.
The third option could be a compromise one - a short-term deal in which staff run the first half of the show and Ms Riddoch the second half. Should one part then clearly be preferred by listeners, it would then seem reasonable to consider offering the whole show to those responsible for the more successful programming.

The idea, however, of handing a juicy- and almost risk-free- bone to an incumbent host to the detriment of the rest of the programme staff should not in our view have ever been taken seriously without at least inviting competitive tenders for an alternative.
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2004-11-06: Disney-ABC's Chicago WLS-AM has now confirmed officially that the Don and Roma Wade morning team will be back on the air for them on Monday after seven-weeks away following the end of their previous contract and extension.
Also in Chicago, Bonneville International has now gone to air with its new format WILV-FM - "The New 100.3 Love FM", which takes over from the Hits of the '80s and '90s WNND-FM, which had been tied for 23rd place in the Chicago market in the most recent ratings.
The station now has a format that mixes adult-contemporary with rhythm-and-blues and oldies ballads under the common theme of love and Robert Feder in the Chicago Sun-Times says the station should draw the largest share of its female target audience from adult-contemporary WLIT-FM and smooth jazz WNUA-FM
Feder notes that the format was created by Bonneville's top Chicago programming executives, Greg Solk and Barry James, to generate a cross-cultural and multiracial appeal and says it will air without announcers for the first few months.
The only holdover from WNND, he says, is John Symons, who will host a revamped version of his "Love Notes" evening show
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Previous Feder:
Previous Don and Roma Wade:
Chicago Sun-Times Feder column:

2004-11-06: Arbitron initiatives for diary keepers seem to have improved its return rates - those who returned a usable diary having agreed to keep one - in larger markets but it is still facing problems in getting people to agree to keep a diary (consent rates).
For the Summer 2004 survey the company continued initiatives for young male, black, and Hispanic households that were introduced Spring 2004 for 20 low-response rate (the percentage from the eligible sample who both agreed to keep a diary and returned a usable one) Metros: In the four "targeted" low-response Metros surveyed the new treatments increased response rates by 2.2 percentage points, from 25.4 percent in Summer 2003 to 27.6 percent in Summer 2004.
The company says for all markets in Summer 2004 response rates dipped 0.6 from 30.8 in 2003 to 30.2, overall consent rate was down 2.2 to 54.7 but return rate was up 1.1 to 54.7.
In the top ten markers response rate was up 1.1 to 29.9, consent rate was up 0.2 to 52.6 and return rate was up 1.8 to 54.6.
For the top 25 markets response rate was down 0.1 to 29.4, consent rate was down 1.1 to 53.4 and return rate was up 1.2 to 54.6.
The worst response rate was in the markets ranked 51-100 where it dipped 1.5 to 30.9 as consent rate fell 2.6 to 55.5 although return rate was up 0.8 to 55.2.
Previous Arbitron:

2004-11-05: Thursday saw another run of US radio results, mainly showing healthy revenue increases but with overall figures in a number of cases affected significantly by one-offs.
Citadel reported third quarter revenues up 11.2% to a record USD 107.5 million, operating income up 79.4% to USD 6.1 million, and free cash flow up 35.5% to USD 38.2 million.
Operating income included a non-cash charge of approximately USD16.4 million primarily due to the Company's settlement with its previous national rep firm under which the new rep firm, Katz, settled the Company's obligations under the settlement agreement with Interep, its prior rep firm, and entered into a new long term contract with the Company.
Overall, aided by a USD 90.6 million non cash tax benefit, net income in the quarter was turned from a loss of USD 23.2 million (20 cents a share) a year ago into a profit of USD 90.1 million (62 cents a share) this year. Same station revenues were up approximately 3% and same station operating income was up 7%: Citadel says its fourth quarter same station performance will be similar to that for the third quarter.
Chairman and CEO Farid Suleman said Citadel had " continued to deliver record operating results on both a reported basis and same station basis in spite of a challenging environment."
He added that "the Company has been utilizing its significant free cash flow and availability under its credit facility to repurchase Company shares under the $100 million stock buy back program." And noted that as of November 2, 2004, Citadel had repurchased approximately 6.0 million shares for a total of approximately $82.8 million.
"While we are fully committed to investing in our business and making strategic acquisitions, we also intend to increase shareholder value by investing in our stock," he said.
Cumulus reported third quarter revenues up 12.6% to USD 84 million and station operating income up 16.5% to USD 32.4 million and overall increased its net income 32.3% to USD 9.3 million (from 10 cents per diluted share a year ago to 13 cents a share).
On a same station basis net revenues were up 3.8% to USD 71. 4 million and station operating income was up 10% to USD 32.3 million. Cumulus is forecasting a final quarter pro forma net revenue growth between 2% and 4%.
Chairman, President and CEO Lew Dickey commented, "We are pleased to announce strong results for the third quarter of 2004. The quarter was marked by solid top line growth and tremendous free cash flow growth as we continue to demonstrate the significant operating leverage of our platform."
Entravision reported third quarter net revenues up 9% to USD 70 million, broadcast cash flow up 19% to USD 28 million, and EBITDA up 22% to USD 23.6 but net income was down 59% to USD 3.69 million and because of stock redemption charges net income applicable to common shareholders of five cents a share a year earlier became a five cents a share loss.
Pro forma figures taking into account the sale of Entravision's stations in Fresno, California and Chicago, Illinois earlier this year show revenues up 10%, broadcast cash flow up 20% and EBITDA up 23%
Entravision says it expects final quarter revenues to be between USD 65.2 million and USD 65.9 million
Commenting on the figures, chairman and CEO Walter Ulloa said, "Our third quarter revenue growth was among the strongest in the media industry, highlighting the exceptionally strategic positioning of our assets in serving the nation's Hispanic population."
"Our television and radio divisions continue to post revenue increases well ahead of the general market, and our outdoor division has continued to turn the corner in generating positive top-line growth. Further, our operating leverage continues to expand, as we translate our increasing revenues into improving margins and double-digit cash flow growth."
"As we grow our business, we will continue to review potential expansion opportunities in new markets, while ensuring that we are in an optimal position in each of our current markets to drive market share growth and financial returns. Given our diversified asset base in the nation's most densely populated Hispanic markets and our improving operating fundamentals, we remain very well positioned to drive shareholder value."
Radio One Inc. reported third quarter revenues up 3.6% to USD 84.4 million, operating income up 3% to USD 38.6 million, and net income up 0.3% to USD 16.77 million (and unchanged 16 cents a share) - USD 11.73 million of it applicable to common shareholders (an unchanged 11 cents a share).
It is forecasting fourth quarter net broadcast revenue that will be in the low single-digits higher than the approximately USD77.4 million of net broadcast revenue generated in the fourth quarter of 2003.
President and CEO Alfred C. Liggins, III said of the performance, "Radio One continues to excel on virtually all metrics in spite of the difficult industry environment during the third quarter."
"We also completed the acquisition of radio station KROI-FM (formerly KRTS-FM) in Houston and announced our agreement to acquire the assets of WABZ-FM in Charlotte. While the radio industry continues to find its footing, we are optimistic that, with our ratings gains, new stations coming on line, and new initiatives, we are poised to continue to outperform the industry for the foreseeable future and continue to increase the long-term value of Radio One."
Salem net broadcasting revenues for the quarter were up 11% to USD 47.3 million and station operating income up 18.8% to USD 11.2 million. Overall it took its net income up from USD 1.5 million to USD 2.6 million after taking a one-off loss of USD 1.9 million due to the write-off of certain property, plant and equipment no longer being used or owned by the company, which was identified by a physical inventory audit.
Salem's same-station net broadcasting revenue in the quarter was up 11% to USD45.1 million and same-station operating income was up 18% to USD 18.2 million. In the fourth quarter it says it anticipates net broadcasting revenue to be between USD48.5 million-USD49 million, station operating income to be between USD18 million-USD18.5 million, and net income between 13 cents and 15 cents per share.
President and CEO Edward G. Atsinger III said the company's figures "will, once again, significantly exceed the performance of the overall radio industry."
"This strong performance," he added, "is fuelled by growth at our start-up and developing stations, in particular, our Contemporary Christian Music stations which achieved an increase of 16.5% in net broadcasting revenue and 36.0% in station operating income compared to last year."
He also noted the company's station exchange with Univision Communications (See RNW Oct 5) that he said, "presents a unique opportunity for Salem to expand our presence in four attractive major markets -- Chicago, Houston, Dallas and Sacramento."
"This transaction," said Atsinger, "upgrades our station group, offers an opportunity to significantly improve the return from two stations which have been under performing, and enhances our network business by providing strong anchor affiliates in Chicago and Houston, the third and seventh largest markets in the country, respectively."
Previous Atsinger:
Previous Citadel:
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2004-11-05: XM satellite radio has announced that at the end of its third quarter on September 30 it had topped 2.5 million subscribers and had reduced its net loss in the quarter to USD 118 million (59 cents a share) compared to USD 133.5 million ( 1.12 per share) a year earlier.
It noted an EBITDA loss of USD 62.9 million for the quarter this year compared to USD 64.4 million a year ago when the figures included USD 4.4 million in de-leveraging charges.
Revenues for the quarter, in which it added 415,671 subscribers to achieve a total of 2,516,023, were more than doubled - up from USD 26.9 million to USD 65.4 million and also up nearly a quarter on the USD 53.0 million reported in the second quarter 2004.
XM also noted a continued Reduction in the Cost to Acquire Each New Subscriber (CPGA) - down from USD 127 a year earlier to USD 89.
In liquidity terms, XM ended the third quarter with USD 448 million in total cash and short-term investments and a further USD 135 million in loan capacity under an agreement with General Motors.
President and CEO Hugh Panero commented, "XM's subscriber momentum combined with our outstanding new programming and XM's unmatched technology, featuring the new Roady2, SKYFi2 and the groundbreaking MyFi, sets the table for an outstanding Holiday season and beyond."
Previous Panero:
Previous XM:

2004-11-05: In Chicago, Disney-ABC's WLS-AM has now agreed a "tentative" multimillion dollar multi year deal with husband and wife team Don and Roma Wade to them to resume their morning sting according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Robert Feder says the Wades agent Eliot Ephraim confirmed the agreement and said the duo, who turned down a serious offer to move to Salem's WIND-AM, could be back on WLS as early as the start of next week.
Don & Roma went off the air on September. 14 when their last contract extension expired and weekend hosts Teri O'Brien and Art Wallis had been filling in.
Feder notes that WLS, which had been without a president and general manager for four months until John Gallagher was named to replace Zemira Jones, had a right to match other offers until last weekend but failed to take advantage of this.
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2004-11-05: Toronto-based CHUM, which has put forward a terrestrial bid for an audio subscription service for Canada in competition with two satellite bids has told the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) at the third day of its hearings in Gatineau, Quebec, on the applications that its bid offered an opportunity for Canada to have its own subscription-service rather than relying on US providers.
CHUM has said that the 50 channels it is offering in conjunction with partner Astral, but which would only be available in large cities, would be produced in Canada and would each offer at least the same 35% Canadian content that is required for Canadian commercial stations.
The rival offers from partnerships with the US satellite radio companies are only offering four or five Canadian channels.
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2004-11-05: The late British DJ John Peel's funeral is to be held next Friday at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds, near his Suffolk home.
The public service will be followed by a private family ceremony, which they have requested the media and public to stay away from.
Peel, who was famed for his championing of new bands on BBC Radio 1 since the station went on air in 1967, including The Undertones whose 1977 hit Teenage Kicks he had said was his favourite record.
He wrote in the UK Guardian that he wanted a line from the song to be carved onto his tomb stone: "Sheila, my wife - I wanna hold her, wanna hold her tight - knows that when I die, the only words I want on my tombstone, apart from my name, are: 'Teenage Dreams, So Hard To Beat."
The Undertones, have denied media reports they will re-releasing Teenage Kicks in tribute to him.
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2004-11-04: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says that as of the end of September the US had a total of 26,304 licensed broadcast stations, down by 211 on the figures to the end of June that were themselves down 98 on the figure at the end of March.
Of the total, 13,499 were radio stations, up 13 on the figures to the end of June: This total was made up of 4770 AMs, down one; 6217 commercial FMs, down one; and 2512 educational FMs, up 15.
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2004-11-04: A UK High Court judge on Wednesday reserved judgement in the case brought against UK official radio ratings body RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) by the Wireless Group.
The court had been told by Mark Brealey QC that the Wireless Group's TalkSPORT station had suffered because the diary system used by RAJAR underestimated its listeners "by several million a week,"
Brealey said RAJAR should have adopted electronic measurement in June last year when it instead opted to delay introduction and said the action "unfairly distorts its competitive position."
"This reduces its advertising revenue and restricts TalkSport's ability to invest and bid for sporting rights, " he said. "That's not a fanciful grievance, it's real."
RAJAR in a statement said that "having found faults with the two meters which it had tested extensively, the organisation prudently asked the audiometer manufacturers to see if they would develop their respective devices further to address the problems which RAJAR had identified."
"This they have done and RAJAR is poised to undertake a pioneering validation test on both meters, along with a third newcomer, later this month," it added.
RAJAR managing director Sally de la Bedoyere commented, "We are pleased we have been able to explain our application for a strike out. We have always considered this case to be based on a ludicrous and inaccurate assumption and therefore we are confident that the TWG case will be struck out."
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2004-11-04: Long-time Rhode Island radio and TV personality Walter "Salty" Brine has died aged 86 at his Narragansett home.
Brine worked for WPRO-AM for 50 years until his retirement in 1993 and WPRO today broadcasts from the "Salty Brine Broadcast Center."
In a message board on its site WPRO says, "Saying goodbye to Salty Brine is like saying goodbye to a beloved family member. And he was. Our lives were shaped by our parents, and Salty Brine. Salty was the spirit that helped WPRO propel to its status as a leader in the field of radio... We're proud that he allowed us to use his name to uphold the integrity that he brought to the broadcasting industry in Rhode Island. Thanks, Salty. Your spirit lives on in our hearts."
As well as his morning show on WPRO-AM - Salty became famous for announcing snow days for local schools with the signature comment "No school, Foster-Glocester!" - Brine also hosted a children's TV programme Salty's Shack from 1955-68 on WPRO-TV.
WPRO-AM message board:

2004-11-04: Veteran Chicago host Larry Lujack has renewed his contract as morning co-host with Tommy Edwards on Clear Channel's WRLL-AM according to Robert Feder of the Chicago Sun-Times, who added that terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
Feder quotes John Gehron, regional vice president of Clear Channel Radio and general manager of WRLL as saying, "Larry has been a big reason 'Real Oldies 1690' had a great first year."
"His continued involvement in mornings will continue that growth as more and more of his fans find he is back on 1690."
Lujack is to be inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame on Saturday along with former National Public Radio (NPR) and now XM satellite radio host Bob Edwards, Clear Channel chairman and former CEO Lowry Mays, Detroit morning host Dick Purtan, and the late Walter Winchell, famed for his radio commentaries in the 1930s and 1940s, first with CBS then ABC.
The event is to be hosted by Glenn Beck of Premiere Radio Networks, who will syndicate it nationwide and also by XM satellite radio.
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Previous XM:

2004-11-04: Sirius Canada CEO Kevin Shea told the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on the second day of its hearings in Gatineau, Quebec, into the allocation of audio subscription licence(s) that his company would have "total control" over the content for the Canadian market despite its close ties with Sirius Satellite Radio.
Sirius Canada is competing against a rival satellite bid from Canadian Satellite Radio (CSR) which is in partnership with XM satellite radio and a terrestrial bid from a partnership between Toronto-based CHUM and Montreal-based Astral that would only offer a service to some 50 large cities but would have some 50 channels of Canadian content compared to an initial four for CSR and five for Sirius Canada (See RNW Nov 3).
There are no technical reasons not to grant licences to each applicant but CHUM has said its plan would not be viable were two other licences granted.
Previous CRTC:
Previous Shea:
Previous Sirius:

2004-11-04: The latest report of the BBC Complaints Unit, covering the period from July 1 to September 30 this year shows a total of 21 TV and 13 radio complaints upheld out of a total of 284 dealt with concerning 191 items.
This compared to 402 complaints relating to 210 items in the previous quarter when one radio programme alone attracted 104 complaints: In that 154 complaints were upheld, 113 of them partly, relating to 27 items
In the latest bulletin, nine of the TV complaints upheld and seven of the radio ones related to matters of fairness and accuracy with 11 TV complaints and five radio ones concerning matters of taste and standards and one each concerning other matters.
The radio fairness and accuracy complaints upheld were:
Party Political Bias - BBC Radio 4 : A World at One report that the complainant said involved the presenter, while interviewing a government minister "inappropriately expressed critical views of his own on a supposed "culture of spin" within the Government. The ruling was that "there were occasions when the presenter expressed them as his own, and this was inappropriate."
Party Political bias - BBC Radio 4: A Pick of the Week programme in which the presenter linked an item on coffee houses in 17th century England and an excerpt from a documentary about the British National Party (BNP) in Burnley. The first mentioned contemporary opinions that coffee, being Turkish, was "contaminating", so she went on to say the number of votes won by the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and the British National Party (BNP) in the recent elections for the European
Parliament suggested that the fear of contamination was still widespread. A listener complained that this drew a false parallel between UKIP and the BNP.
The finding was that irrespective of what might be said of BNP policies, the policies put forward by UKIP do not warrant the suggestion that the party is motivated by fear of contamination. For the future producers who normally have little contact with politics are to be briefed during election periods by the producer of Any Questions?
Party Political bias- BBC Radio 2: Complaints about the Sarah Kennedy Show in which two listeners complained about three occasions of her making off the cuff comments critical of the government. The finding was that these had been inconsistent with the BBC's commitment to due impartiality.
Other bias: BBC Radio 4 : A You and Yours programme on the actions of animal rights extremists that the complaint said was biased and misleading, to the point of being pro-vivisection propaganda. The finding was that no bias was apparent until the end when a question was put to a government minister that implied general agreement that the mapping of the human genome created a need for more animal experimentation when in fact this is not generally agreed.
Other bias - BBC Radio 2: A Sarah Kennedy Show suggestion from the presenter that it would be better if Saddam Hussein committed suicide rather than face trial.
The comment, made during a review of the morning newspapers, was found to be "an inappropriate expression of a personal view on a topic of controversy" and The Head of Programmes, Radio 2, discussed the finding with Sarah Kennedy and reminded her of the principles which apply to the treatment of controversial topics.
Factual inaccuracy - BBC Radio 4: A Thought for the Day programme where the complainant said the speaker had given an inaccurate and exaggerated impression of the impact of Government policy on the finances and life choices of university students.
It was found that references to tuition fees and student loans were not offered as analyses of those topics, but as illustrations of a broader argument about debt. Nevertheless, they suggested that students would be required to meet the full cost of their courses, and that student loans had to be fully repaid in all cases, neither of which is correct. The programme team was reminded of the need to check that contributors' illustrations of their points do not contain factual inaccuracies.
Factual inaccuracy - BBC Southern Counties Radio: Richard Reynolds Complaints from three listeners that Reynolds had wrongly suggested animal rights activists had killed scientists.
It was found that In the course of a live phone-in, the presenter had made a mistake. He had been thinking of the murder of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn, whose killer had a record as an animal rights activist.
It was noted that independently of the Unit's investigation, the programme broadcast a correction and apologised for the error.
Matters of taste and standards:
BBC Radio WM: Adrian Goldberg's Breakfast Show A Complaint against an edition in which the presenter read out a text message from a listener in which Sir Cliff Richard was described as a "nauseous, self-obsessed poof." The unit said it was a mistake to broadcast the message.
BBC Radio 1: Spoony A complaint ain which it was said that, in running a competition with a substantial prize that involved recounting "superhero" antics, the programme had uncritically condoned drunken and dangerous stunts.
The unit noted that two of three callers put on air on the day in question boasted of alcohol-fuelled incidents and that, although the winner was not "involved in a drunken prank" the programme "gave the impression that excessive drinking was amusing rather than anti-social and unsafe."
BBC Radio Five Live: The Midday News. A complaint about an edition where the listener felt that the tone of an interview with a Government adviser from the Department of Health was aggressive to the point of rudeness.
It was held that in an item on an initiative to get patients more involved with decisions about their treatment in the National Health Service and in pursuit of an example illustrating how this could work with children, however, the interviewer's manner became inappropriately confrontational.
BBC Radio 4: The Today programme. A complaint against an edition in which three listeners felt that presenter John Humphrys' interview with Home Office Minister Hazel Blears had been conducted in a hectoring way with interruptions preventing her from finishing her responses.
It was held that although the interview dealt with issues of legitimate public concern, and John Humphrys' interventions were intended to keep it on track when the Minister appeared to be avoiding the point of the questions- the log of phone calls to the BBC indicated that a number of listeners thought it had been well performed on this occasion- there were times when the Minister should have been given more opportunity to develop her response.
BBC Radio Five Live: The Julian Worricker Show. A complaint against a programme in which the complainant said a caller was allowed to "make inflammatory comments which, in his view, amounted to incitement to racial hatred."
The finding noted that the topic of the programme was freedom of speech in a democracy and how far extreme views should be tolerated. In this case a listener made extreme remarks about Islam and efforts to engage him in argument succeeded only in giving him an opportunity to repeat his remarks.
The panel found that this was not a legal offence of incitement to racial hatred but the comments were "were unacceptably inflammatory, and the call should have been terminated more quickly."
Previous BBC:
Previous BBC Complaints Bulletin (Governor's appeals)
Previous BBC Complaints Unit bulletin:

2004-11-04: Former Clear Channel Tampa host Todd Clem - Bubba the Love Sponge - who was fired after a heavy Federal Communications Commission (FCC) indecency penalty (See RNW Feb 25) has been trounced in his bid to become sheriff of Pinellas County (See RNW Jul 19).
Clem who ran as Democrat "Bubba Clem" against the Republican candidate, chief sheriff's deputy Jim Coats who had been in his post for nine years and a deputy in the department for more than three decades.
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Bubba the Love Sponge:

2004-11-03: The US National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has now filed details of its opposition to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) localism enquiry that it says to the degree that it "forecasts a departure from the deregulatory approach the Commission has followed over the past three decades, it sets out on a path that is unlawful, unnecessary and fraught with Constitutional peril."
"NAB," it says, " believes that no evidence exists to justify such a drastic change in the Commission's course; nor will such evidence materialize in the record in this proceeding."
The Notice it says "demonstrates a lack of appreciation for the current economic and financial circumstances surrounding broadcasting...[with intense expanding competition from new technologies for entertainment, satellite radio, and the internet] … The marketplace incentives created by this competition invariably force broadcasters to diligently serve the needs and interests of their local communities just to maintain their existing audience, as well as develop innovate new services that may expand their audience."
"Given these circumstances, NAB believes that the Notice's focus on imposing new obligations on broadcasters is neither justified nor prudent."
"In deregulating radio and television in the early 1980's, the Commission found that the marketplace forces in existence then would ensure broadcasters' continued efforts to ascertain and meet the demands of their local communities. Of course, such forces are much more powerful today, such that new regulations have never been less needed."
NAB then goes on to seemingly contradict its own argument in part by saying "In response to the Commission's inquiry regarding local newscasts, NAB demonstrates that the current economic realities of the broadcasting business is making it extremely difficult for certain stations to produce and provide local news, particularly smaller and lower-rated stations. Many such stations have been forced to reduce or eliminate their newscasts. "
"As such, the Commission most definitely should take account of the relative costs of producing news before taking any action that might further increase the hardship on smaller and lower-rated stations, such as mandating some minimum amount of local news that stations must provide."
NAB also opposes suggestions such as the "exploration of imposing a new obligation on broadcasters to air some minimum amount of political programming" and says, "there is no evidence to support the Commission's inquiries regarding voicetracking and 'national playlists.' NAB sees little connection between these situations and broadcast localism, since local control over operations and programming is a bedrock principle of all radio stations, regardless of their ownership structure."
"In addition, just like stations that import network programming such as Rush Limbaugh or ESPN Sports, the use of voice-tracking, or corporate-developed playlists does not affect a broadcaster's ability to use local on-air talent, or play local artists, at other times of the day."
RNW comment: In all NAB provides a 77 page main document and 132 pages of examples to argue against an enquiry and that the market place is already forcing localism on broadcasters and therefore it would be iniquitous to enforce localism by regulation.
There seems, to paraphrase Shakespeare, far too much protest from the NAB if the rest of what they are saying is true. Were this a paper from a high school student, we suspect it would be sent back with instructions to rewrite, shorten, and remove the contradictions or graded E at best.

Previous FCC:
Previous NAB:
NAB filing (355 KB PDF - 77 Pages):
NAB exhibits addendum (5.26 MB PDF - 132 pages):

2004-11-03: The barrister for UK official radio ratings company RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) on Tuesday accused Wireless Group chief executive Kelvin MacKenzie of talking " hot air" to the media and using his legal battle against the company to generate publicity for his company.
Nick Green Q.C. told Mr Justice Lloyd at the High Court, "There's a marked difference between the cautious and conservative pleaded case and what can only be described as hot air that has been ventilated in the press."
"In the press Mr MacKenzie has accused RAJAR of fraud, not a case that is advanced in the pleading. It's reflective of a fact that we say underlies this case which is that its all about publicity, it being a truism that all publicity is good publicity."
The Wireless Group is claiming that RAJAR's system seriously underestimates the audience for his company's TalkSPORT station and MacKenzie has claimed it cost his company GBP 66million (USD 121 million) in revenues since it first raised the issue of measurement with RAJAR four years ago.
His case is that RAJAR abused its dominant position and breached competition law when it opted against introducing electronic metering last year.
RAJAR has conducted extensive tests of Arbitron's Portable People Meter (PPM) system and GFK watch system and on the weekend of November 13th and 14th is to conduct extensive tests of three competing electronic metering systems, Arbitron's Portable People Meter, the Eurisko NOP World Media Monitor and the GfK/Telecontrol MediaWatch (See RNW Oct 12).
Green said that to adopt the PPM would cost RAJAR GBP 23 million (USD 41 million) a year, and the GfK wristwatch would cost £8 million (USD 14.3 million) a year plus £2.7 Million (USD 4.1 million) in set-up costs, whereas the current diary system cost GBP 4 million (USD 7.2 million).
He said RAJAR had, after a 15-month trial of the PPM and Mediawatch, opted against introducing electronic metering and decided to wait instead for the next generation of the technology because it had identified problems with the new systems.
He added that RAJAR's decision to delay introduction of electronic metering would enable it to stage a more competitive tender process.
RAJAR wants the Wireless Group's action struck out at the hearing, which is to continue today. If a decision is made that the matter should go forward, this is expected to happen some time in summer next year.
RNW comment: Our view on this case has not changed since the early days. We continue to take the view that the case should be summarily dismissed and costs be awarded against The Wireless Group.
We note that other countries have also delayed introduction of electronic metering - notably Australia - and that in the US the PPM has not replaced the diary system and that the deployment of the GfK meter in the UK, sponsored by the Wireless Group, has shown TalkSPORT to have a significantly higher audience than that registered by the diary.
Some of this is certainly due to the fact that diaries specify a longer period of listening before an entry has been made than the watch requires, thus automatically boosting stations that people may dip into briefly such as news and sports stations. It may also be, of course, that having got the headlines or scores, people then switch away from such stations more when the advertisements are on.
Our view is to be sceptical of MacKenzie's motives - so far he had garnered a lot of free publicity that in particular relates to his claims of higher listening than officially recorded and risked little.
He has shown that those who want to can deploy an alternative system and that, to us, should be the end of the matter for someone making a free market case as MacKenzie does so often - well at least he does when it appears to his benefit.

Previous MacKenzie:
Previous RAJAR:
Previous Wireless Group:

2004-11-03: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has indicated in hearings that began this week into applications for subscription audio licences that it is looking for significant Canadian content and it is also possible it may approve more than one service.
Before the hearings began in Gatineau, Quebec, CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen noted that Canadian government policy since 1995 had been that services to Canada should use Canadian satellites and when the satellite applications involving XM and Sirius were received the CRTC sought clarification and was told that the Canadian Ministers of Industry and Heritage now propose to amend the policy in order to permit the use of foreign satellite facilities to distribute Canadian programming services in exceptional circumstances, where no Canadian satellite facilities are available.
Although there are no official figures a significant number of Canadians already listen to the US radio satellite services through having a US address for their subscriptions.
There are three proposals before the CRTC, two for satellite services and one for a terrestrial service.
The last, from a consortium of CHUM and Astral Radio would only offer a service in large cities and is planned to include some 50 channels all of which would be produced in Canada.
The other two contenders are Canadian Satellite Radio (CSR), a consortium backed by XM Satellite radio and Canadian entrepreneur John Bitove who is chairman, and Sirius Canada from a consortium including Sirius satellite radio, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Standard Radio Inc.
CSR is only planning four Canadian channels, some content for which will come from Corus and at the CRTC hearings on Monday Commissioner Joan Pennefather commented, "Four out of a hundred is not enough."
Bitove responded that his group hoped to increase the number of Canadian channels as the service became more popular but added that in his view technology was changing so rapidly some of the old rules regulating Canadian broadcasting might need revision. Bitove said it was important to get into satellite radio now and added that "as this becomes global and more countries become involved, the important thing for our country and our Broadcasting Act [is] to make sure that our piece of the turf is defended."
Sirius Canada is proposing to offer five Canadian channels - two existing CBC and two new CBC channels plus a channel from Standard and its CEO Kevin Shea says there is capacity for all the services.
This was disputed on economic not technical grounds by the CHUM consortium and Peter Miller, head of regulatory affairs for CHUM, said its service would "not be viable if they license all three."
Both Sirius and CSR say that their proposed services complement existing Canadian broadcasts and Shea said, "This is a big opportunity for Canadian artists, for folks in the news and documentary business, and I think that's really the area of focus."
A number of Canadian groups including Friends of Canadian Broadcasting dispute this: They note the current requirement for 35% Canadian content on Canadian terrestrial radio broadcasters and regard the satellite offerings as an American service with a few Canadian channels thrown in to gain a licence.
Ian Morrison of Friend of Canadian Broadcasting commented that the "two satellite applications are offering almost nothing except the importation of huge quantities of American programming."
Previous Astral:
Previous Bitove:
Previous CBC:
Previous CHUM:
Previous Corus:
Previous CSR:
Previous CRTC:
Previous Dalfen:
Previous Shea:
Previous Sirius:
Previous Standard:
Previous XM:

2004-11-03: Stung by a report on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Media Watch TV programme on a leaked draft of its report into allegations of bias in the corporation's radio reporting of the Iraq War, the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) has issued a formal statement of concern and stressed that the final report is yet to be completed.
The ABA began its inquiry into cover on the ABC AM radio programme following complaints nearly 18 months ago by then Communications Minister Richard Alston who complained of 68 incidents of alleged bias.
The ABC's Complaints Review Executive dismissed all but two of Alston's charges in July last year but the Corporation referred the matter to its Independent Complaints Review Panel after Alston floated the idea of setting up a new review panel to look at the ABC: Alston said the Independent ABC panel - comprised of a former commercial TV executive, commercial TV journalist, SBS radio broadcaster, law professor, and a member of the Australian Press Council - was not truly independent because the appointments to it had been made by the ABC.
The Independent Panel rejected the broad allegation of bias by Alston saying, "AM's reporting of the Iraqi war, examined over the entire period, cannot …be held to be, as the Minister complains, systemic anti-American or anti-Coalition partisan broadcasting" but upheld an additional 15 of his specific charges.
Alston then complained to the ABA and according to the Media Watch report its 136-page preliminary report concludes ABA considers that the AM program was balanced overall in its coverage of the Iraq War and related issues but is considering upholding an additional seven complaints.
Media Watch says the draft report says, "In each case, the ABA has found that the style of presentation and language used by the presenter displayed prejudgement of the issues concerned and/or lack of consideration to alternative viewpoints."
Three of the seven refer to an interview by AM host Linda Mottram with ABC TV reporter Geoff Thompson concerning an incident in which the US marines fired on a civilian vehicle: His report won him a Logie award for "Most Outstanding News Coverage."
Thompson said the evidence was "incoming" fire was from other marines and the Marine commander said this was "something we're going to look at very carefully."
Media Watch points out that three questions from Mottram, concerning which the complaints may be upheld, were put in the context of knowing the content of the report and attacks the draft report's upholding of the complaints regarding bias in the questions.
Media Watch contended that the questions and the suggestions that "nervous " marines might have fired on an unarmed civilian vehicle and why the marines thought they'd come under enemy fire were fully justified and complaints of bias in them had twice previously been rejected.
It notes that ub its finding the ABC Complaints Review Executive said, "I agree that the presenter's questions are provocative and do not suggest the best of motives by the soldiers. However, the embedded correspondent clarifies and rebuts these assumptions. In the end the sense is of a confused and bewildering environment."
"The complaint about the questions is not meaningfully appraised without considering the answers."
The programme commented that the ABA conclusion that the presenter was prejudging the issues in asking questions suggesting the incoming fire was "friendly" - it notes this was said by the Marines commander in the report - and "ignoring Thompson's answer and continuing to accuse the soldiers of dishonesty" was "more than slovenly. It's dishonest."
It cites the question from Mottram: So are you suggesting that these soldiers are trying to cover up for a tragic mistake?" and answer from Thompson: "No, I think what's happened is that they got very excited ... I don't think they're covering it up. In fact, I think they believe that's what happened. I don't believe that is what happened and either does the commander of their unit" and says this does not justify the ABA report conclusion that the cover "…shows the presenter has not only failed to give appropriate consideration to the marines' perception of the event but that she has also not given appropriate consideration to the reporter's perception of the marines' honesty."
Three other complaints that may be upheld reported Media Watch related to the programme being too sceptical about military briefings and not showing enough respect for the Pentagon's "information managers".
The ABA draft report on this is said to conclude, "While acknowledging that careful management of information is an element of military campaigns, the ABA considers AM overused terms such as 'public relations' and 'propaganda' when reporting on announcements by Coalition officials…this left an impression that issues had been prejudged."
In the ABA statement Acting Chair Lyn Maddock commented, '"he contents of any leaked preliminary report should not be treated as decisions of the ABA, nor can the ABA properly comment or speculate on issues before the investigation… I am concerned that contents of a draft report have been made public without the opportunity for parties who may be adversely affected by the publication of the report to make representations to the ABA."
RNW comment: The statement by the ABA is in our view fully justified from a bureaucratic standpoint and makes its point fairly but at the same time it seems to us that for Media Watch to carry the report was also fully justified.
The only area of concern here is any suggestion that the leak of the draft to the programme may have come from within the ABC itself, something that would put the Corporation in the wrong.
As regards the content of the draft report, Media Watch seems to do a reasonable job in sustaining its contention that yet again "the ABA has shown it doesn't really know how journalism works."
We would also conclude from many reports we've read on this issue that on balance the potential chilling effects of the campaign by Alston on free reporting should lead to adverse comment about the tenor of his complaints and their effect.

Previous ABA:
Previous ABC, Australia:
Previous Maddock:
ABC Media Watch - Programme transcript:

2004-11-03: Digital multiplexes in Plymouth and Cornwall in South West England have now gone on air, each carrying five channels and including on each multiplex the existing local commercial radio services for their area - 97 FM Plymouth Sound and Pirate FM respectively, the local BBC service, The Storm and Kiss and in Plymouth Classic Gold (Cornwall is carrying both Pirate FM and Plymouth Sound).
The transmitter for Cornwall at Caradon Hill is the 250th commissioned by NTL's broadcast division.
Much of the area can also receive the national Digital One commercial multiplex and BBC digital services and receivers may have to be returned to add the new services.

2004-11-02: In more third quarter results Entercom has reported net revenues up 4% on a year earlier to a record USD 112.5 million, same station net revenues up 2% to USD 63.5 million, station operating income up 4% to a record USD 49 million but overall net income was down 6% to USD 20.26 million and net income per share was down from 42 cents to 41 cents.
Entercom noted that during the quarter it entered into a new bank credit agreement for a five-year revolving senior secured credit facility and that as a result it terminated its former facility, leading to a USD 1.4 million write-off without which the net income per share would have been up to 43 cents.
It also announced that its board has authorized a second stock buyback of up to USD 100 million, with the amounts and timing of deals dependant on market conditions: Under its previous buyback scheme it spent USD 100 million in the second and third quarters this year to purchase 2.6 million shares.
For the fourth quarter Entercom says it expects to report an increase in same station net revenues of low single digits for the fourth quarter of 2004.
Commenting on the performance, president and CEO David J. Field said its same-station growth significantly outpaced its markets, which were flat for the quarter.
"Furthermore, we gained revenue share in 13 of our 18 measured markets and achieved strong ratings performance across the substantial majority of our brands," he added. "We are very pleased with our third quarter results in the context of the challenging business climate that adversely affected a broad range of advertising supported media including television, newspaper and radio."
In Europe, SBS Broadcasting SA has reported third quarter net revenues up 21% to Euros 139.2 million (USD 178 million), third quarter station operating cash flow up 19% to Euros 11.9 million (USD 15.2 million). Overall SBS saw net income a year earlier of Euros 20.1 million (0.70 Euros per share/ USD 25.58 million) become a net loss of Euros 2 million (0.06 Euros per share/ USD 2.56 million).
Commenting on the results, CEO Markus Tellenbach said: "We continued to generate improved results during the third quarter despite strong competition for viewers from the Olympic Games... With a solid balance sheet and commitment to profitability, we continue to explore accretive transactions in television and radio that will complement our operations as the Company continues to grow."
Most developments during the quarter related to SBS SA's TV activities but the company notes that in September it repurchased all the shares used to acquire Radio 1 in Norway and Radio 2 in Denmark from wholly owned subsidiaries of Clear Channel Communications, Inc. and Norsk Aller AS (See RNW Sep 1).
It also noted that in October the Greek Council of State granted several applications for the annulment of all 15 four-year FM radio licenses awarded by the Greek Ministry of Press and Mass Media in March 2002; these included the license of SBS SA's Athens station Lampsi-FM, and the company notes that the decision based on alleged deficiencies in the license tender process (and, with respect to Lampsi, on the grounds that Lampsi's ownership structure does not comply with Greek media law) is not subject to appeal.
As a result, it says it is possible Lampsi and the other stations involved will have to go off-air although it expects the Greek Ministry to initiate a new radio license tender in late 2004 or early 2005 and that the radio stations whose licenses were annulled will be permitted to continue to broadcast until new licenses are awarded. Lampsi, it says, would take part in any new licence tendering.
In divisional terms, SBS says its TV net revenues were up 12%, those of radio up 25% -- mainly due to net revenue at the 2003 Acquired Operations but in Denmark they were down primarily because of a decrease in radio advertising expenditure in Denmark.
Operating income was down 43% to Euros 1.3 million (USD 1.66 million) in the quarter and radio operating income moved to a loss of Euros 1.2 million (USD 1.53 million) from operating income of Euros 800,000 (USD 1.02 million) a year earlier: SBS said this was mainly down to operating losses at the 2003 Acquired Operations and the decrease in net revenue at its Danish Radio operations.
For the first nine months of the year, SBS SA net revenue was up 21% to USD 81.2 million (USD 103.5 million) with TV revenues up 9% and radio up 35%. Overall for the nine months net income was less than half that of 2003 - Euros 12.2 million (0.39 Euros per share/USD 15.6 million) compared to Euros 27.6 million (0.97 Euros /USD 35.2 million) a year earlier.
Previous Entercom:
Previous Field:
Previous SBS SA:
Previous Tellenbach:

2004-11-02: Macquarie Network's 2GB retained the lead at the top in Sydney in the latest Australian ratings but its share was down from 12.6 to 11.8 while Southern Cross owned talk rival 2UE narrowed the gap with share up from 8.9 to 9/8 although it remained third behind DMG's NOVA in second place; Nova's share was up from 9.4 to 10.1.
Austereo's Triple M was up from sixth to fourth although its share fell from 8.5 to 8.4, equalling that of ABC 702, which was up from eighth as its share picked up from 8.0. However Austereo flagship 2-Day fell back, swapping places with Triple M to end up sixth with 8.2, down from 8.6
In the breakfast slot Alan Jones for 2GB again held the top spot but his share again fell back - from 15.5 to 14.9 , whilst below it ABC 702 in second rank, up from third, increased share from10.7 to 11.3; Nova fell from second to third although share was up from 10.4 to 10.8 and Mike Carlton for 2UE remained fourth but his share was down from 9.1 to 9.0
In the morning slot 2GB's Ray Hadley held on to top rank but his share dropped from 13.8 to 12.6, and John Laws at rival 2UE took his share up from 9.6 to 11.5, taking him into second place and pushing Nova, whose share was also up - from 9.6 to 10.6 - into third, ahead of MIXFM in fifth with share down from 9.6 to 8.9.
In afternoon drive, Triple M retained top spot with an unchanged 11.0 share, ahead of 2-DAY is still n second with 10.6, up from 10.3 and Nova, which was back up to third from fourth with its share up from 10.0 to 10.4; ABC 702 went from third to fourth as its share dropped from 10.1 to 9.4.
Austereo in its response to the ratings emphasised its "leading shows for the Triple M and Today networks, The Shebang and the Kyle and Jackie O Show," that it said "underpinned a solid ratings result for the two Austereo networks in a volatile market environment" although it expressed disappointment about the performance of Triple M and SA.FM in Adelaide.
Its Chief Executive Michael Anderson said the success of the three shows demonstrated the success of Austereo's long-term strategy, commenting, "We wanted to give those shows time to bed in and allow the word-of-mouth to work and they've now among the leading shows in their timeslots."
"But despite some improvements ," he added, "the market remains volatile - in Melbourne we've seen three different networks on top this year. We expect that volatility to remain for at least another year as the new licences begin to come on line [but] we're confident that our medium to long-term strategy will allow us to weather that volatility in the market."
City by city, the top three stations were (previous % share in brackets):
*Adelaide: Mix 19.7 (18.5) - same rank; SAFM -15.0 (17.6) - same rank; 5AA - 14.7(16.0) - same rank.
*Brisbane - B105FM 16.0 (17.4) - same rank; Triple M with 15.5 (15.7) - same rank; NEW 97.3 FM with 12.3 (12.9) - same rank.
*Melbourne - 3AW with 14.8 (15.9)- same rank; ABC 774 with 11.6 (10.6) - up from third; Nova with 10.7 (9.9) - Up from sixth;
* Gold with 10.1 (10.9) was down from third to fourth, Fox FM remained fifth with 10.0 (10.1), and Triple M fell from fourth to sixth with 9.3 (10.5).
*Perth - MIX 94.5FM 20.5 (20.3) - Same rank; 96FM with 11.8 (13.4) - same rank; ABC 720 with 11.4 (10.1) - up from fourth;
* All New 92.9 with 11.3 (10.6) fell from fourth to third;
* Sydney - 2GB 11.8 (12.6) - same rank; Nova with 10.1 (9.4) - same rank; 2UE with 9.8 (8.9) - same rank.
* Triple M rose from sixth to fourth with 8.4 (8.5), tying with ABC 702 which rose from eighth with 8.4 (8.0) but one-time leader 2DAY fell from fourth to sixth with 8.2 (8.6)
Previous ABC, Australia:
Previous Anderson:
Previous Austereo:
Previous Australian ratings:
Previous Carlton:
Previous DMG:
Previous Hadley:
Previous Jones:
Previous Laws:
Previous Macquarie:
Previous Southern Cross:

2004-11-02: The UK regulator Ofcom upheld just one standards complaint against radio compared to three complaints upheld and one standards case considered resolved involving TV in its latest complaints bulletin.
The radio complaint upheld involved City Beat whose presenter in a conversation with a 13-years-old girl who had called in asked her, after questions on other subjects appropriate to her age, what films she liked and made reference to films such as 'Debbie Does Dallas' and 'Red Hot Dutch Girls'.
The presenter, said Ofcom, did not dwell on the subject and it was obvious that the girl did not understand the point of the question and CityBeat agreed that it was an error of judgment the presenter to take a call from someone of that age on a late night phone-in programme, where the content is mainly of an adult nature. It has now also instituted a policy of only accepting calls from those above 16.
Ofcom ruled that the interview breached codes concerning the interviewing of children.
In addition to the above, Ofcom detailed another TV standards case not upheld and a list, with no details, of an additional 173 TV complaints relating to 142 items and ten radio complaints relating to 12 items that were not upheld or were out of the regulator's remit.
Ofcom has also now handed over all advertising complaints, including those for broadcasters, to the Advertising Standards Authority (Broadcast) (ASA (B)), an offshoot of the Advertising Standards Authority that that formerly oversaw non-broadcast media.
Ofcom retains ultimate responsibility but says it is "satisfied that the contracting out of broadcast advertising through this new system will create an effective, properly funded and sufficiently independent co-regulator."
In addition to the handover of broadcast advertising complaints, Ofcom has also launched two other bodies, The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) - responsible for setting, reviewing and revising standards codes for broadcast advertising and The Broadcast Advertising Standards Board of Finance (BASBOF) - the body responsible for the funding of the new system.
Previous Ofcom:
Previous Ofcom complaints bulletin:

2004-11-02: Swiss Radio International - originally the Swiss Shortwave Service - has now ended its broadcast operations after 70 years on air; its last transmission was broadcast at midnight GMT on Sunday.
The service, which began in 1934 working from a studio in Berne, had its glory days during the Second World War and to a lesser degree during the Cold War.
It became a victim like a number of other international signals of a reduction in government funding and technological developments such as satellite TV and the internet that reduced its audience but an alternative service of sorts is provided on a web site - said to have around 8 million hits a month - aimed primarily at providing news and features about Switzerland that like the radio service provides information in nine languages, mainly in text but with a multimedia section.
Its director Nicholas Lombard, who is to retire at the end of the year told Agence France Presse that radio was "bowing out too early" and added, "The internet can't replace radio easily. But we can offer reams of information on the internet, that was never possible on the radio."
Swiss Info web site:

2004-11-02: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has launched an online jazz service, dig JAZZ timed to coincide with the 2004 Wangaratta Festival of Jazz in Victoria.
The service, part of the ABC's internet-only radio station, dig radio, will offer a diverse mix of classic and contemporary jazz performances and styles.
As well as music, there will be information about the tracks being played and listener discussions via the dig JAZZ music forum; links will connect listeners to special features, concert details, news, interviews and live performances.
dig JAZZ is the first additional service to be launched in a planned extension of the service to genre-based 24-hour-a-day programming.
Previous ABC, Australia:
dig JAZZ web site:

2004-11-01: For our look at print comment on radio this week, we concentrate on hosts and personalities, starting with British DJ John Peel whose sudden death last week has led to a mass of tributes and stories round the world.
In his appreciation of Peel, Andrew Beaujon in the Washington Post comments that Peel "earned his audience's respect by disregarding playlists and charts and instead playing only things he liked."
"That, "he says, "was as radical a concept in 1967, when Peel helped launch the BBC's rock station, Radio 1, as it is in today's bleak radio landscape."
"That's why for many young rock groups, Peel's endorsement was tantamount to being a top pick in Consumer Reports. The Undertones' Damian O'Neill remembers feeling "a mixture of disbelief, total excitement and, of course, a large dose of trepidation" when Peel first played his group's single, "Teenage Kicks," on his show in 1978."
"For American music obsessives, catching Peel's BBC World Service show on short-wave was often the only way to experience records they'd only read about. But you didn't need to have spent your adolescence hiding under your covers with a flashlight and a copy of Goldmine magazine to appreciate Peel's influence. Just tune your radio to any rock station, where you'll hear bands he relentlessly championed -- the Smiths, Joy Division and Nirvana, to name but three -- as well as innumerable artists influenced by such groups: Dashboard Confessional, Interpol and most of WHFS's regular rotation, respectively."
Beaujon also commented on Peel the person, writing, "For a man so influential, Peel was surprisingly accessible -- basically, if you wrote him, he'd send you a postcard back, often with his phone number, sometimes "signed" with a rubber stamp that read "John Peel, The World's Most Boring Man." It was the only image he ever courted: a bearded, bald music geek who only occasionally turned up at music festivals, usually in baggy shorts and a floppy hat, looking as if he'd mistakenly wandered off course during a butterfly-collecting outing… Indeed, Peel never pursued celebrity, though he was one of the most famous people in Britain -- possibly the only member of the Order of the British Empire to flog an Extreme Noise Terror record on-air."
And of his musical taste, "All these endeavours were distractions for Peel, though, whose greatest delight was wallowing in new music, searching for gems. His most recent World Service show boasted a playlist that would drive a Clear Channel executive insane just by being read aloud: "Get Down With It" by the Woggles, "Tomorrow Morning" by someone named Chris T-T and "Fear on a Bridge" by 3 Inches of Blood."
In the UK Guardian, Elisabeth Mahoney in her radio review on Friday commented, "There is only one radio story this week: the death of John Peel. Much has rightly been said about the tremendous affect he has had on the British music scene, but less about his specific contribution to radio. In this medium, as much as in his choice of music, Peel was truly iconoclastic."
"He was one of the pioneers, there at the beginning of Radio 1, and the only DJ from the original line-up to remain in the station's schedules. But unlike many of his colleagues in those early days, Peel never suffered when broadcasting styles changed: he doggedly continued playing music that wouldn't get airtime anywhere else. That he did so, in his later years, in comfy sweaters and cardigans, made him all the more subversive and unclassifiable: quite a feat in music radio, with its slavish adherence to the safety of playlists."
…" The tributes on radio this week have been sad and lovely. I tuned into Radio 1 when the story broke, and stayed with it for most of the day, smiling as Spoony tried to do the occasion justice ("he was our legend, our grandfather, our godfather and original Uncle Peel") while knowing he was almost certainly putting on some tracks that Peel would have hated."
In the London Times, Robert Sandall compares Peel, to his ultimate benefit, to rival DJs in terms of his broadcasting style, writing, "Important taste-maker though he clearly was... it wasn't just the music he played that turned heads - it was the understated Liverpudlian drone that accompanied it. The presiding deity of British pirate radio at the time was a fast-talking expat American who called himself, with standard transatlantic hyperbole, Emperor Rosko. A cheeky Scouse chappie, Kenny Everett, was making a bit of a name for himself too, but he seemed more of a comic turn than a jock."
"Which left the field wide open. Just as the Beatles had conclusively demonstrated that authentically great pop music didn't have to come - or pretend to come - from Memphis or Detroit, it fell to Peel to show a generation of trainee rock fans that it was perfectly okay to speak the way that you'd been brought up to speak. This was before it came out that he had only adopted a Liverpudlian accent in the first place to get a job with a radio station in Oklahoma, where all Brits were expected to sound like the Beatles."
"With Peel, though, the quaint regional accent was only half the story. Here, for the first time, was a DJ who was talking to you without raising his voice or trying to impress you with his supernatural jollity. And it was precisely this quality of believable sincerity that made you listen closely to music that was, and still is, some of the strangest ever made in the name of pop. If Peel said he liked it, he meant it, and so you figured there was probably something in it. Without Peel's missionary endorsements, I and many other British listeners would probably have sailed straight past several of the most interesting and original artists of the rock era."
After detailing various individual and groups that Peel promoted on his show, Sandall concludes, "His enthusiasm for banging "grime" tunes and the like is not, however, what Peel will be best remembered for. It was his nurturing relationships with new artists that marked him out from his earliest days, when he helped to set Pink Floyd and many others on their way. And that became his life's work. He was still busily helping to break new talent long after most men of his age had given up in sheer bewilderment. He loved the Glasgow band the Delgados so much, he invited them to play at his wife Sheila's 50th-birthday party."
"Without Peel's support and encouragement, PJ Harvey, Laura Cantrell and Fort Dax would not be where they are today. You may have heard of one, or even two, of them. If you have heard of all three, you will realize just how truly irreplaceable John Peel is."
In another tribute in the UK Independent, Trevor Dann was in more anecdotal mood, staring off by recalling his first meeting with Peel, then a DJ on the pirate station Radio London, at a garden fete at a girls' school in Derbyshire - he later told Dann of his reason for going, "Well, Trevor, when you're on board a ship with nothing but blokes for company, an invitation to visit a girls' school is, er, quite irresistible."
On Peel himself, he comments, "It was one of the many contradictions in Peel's life that the man who sought out angry, urban music in some of the seedier inner-city clubs lived an idyllic rural life in an isolated Suffolk cottage. From the splendidly named Nan Trues Hole - truly John's bolthole - no other building is visible. In recent years, the BBC allowed him to broadcast his show via an ISDN line from home. He began to sound like the religious leader he was to so many of us, letting fall his pearls of wisdom from a musical Eden."
Dann later produced Peel for a short time on BBC Radio1 and changed the system to allow Peel to not only choose the music as previous producers had done but also the running list.
"I loved the opening to his show in those days," said Dann. "In would come the low dum-da-dum of Grinderswitch's "Picking the Blues", and after the slide guitar figure we'd be treated to the usual litany of awkward and unpronounceable band names. Regular listeners may have noticed that, for pure devilment, John would sometimes trail a band who didn't exist - "... and the Flying Creamshots in session". He'd seen the phrase in a Dutch porno mag."
And on Peel's death: "I was in Berlin when I heard the shocking news of John's death. Even the teletext in my hotel room put the news on their front page, which gives some indication of his worldwide reputation. Since Tuesday morning when the news broke (although it had been embargoed until 2pm), I've received dozens of texts and e-mails from friends who've been touched by the great man."
"One came from an old friend I haven't seen in more than 20 years. "You told me so many funny, warm stories about John," she wrote, "that I felt I knew him a bit, too, and I was thrilled when he gave me a big smile and a good morning in Diss last April." John had that effect on people. He made you feel better."
"He became a broadcasting icon because he had no artifice, no style, no shtick. What you got the across the table at an Indian restaurant was what you got on the radio: passion, honesty and an understated facility for language. Younger broadcasters described as the new John Peel have come and gone for 40 years, but the original was always the best."
After that over the Atlantic for comment on other hosts, none of whom we opine is likely to ever attract the same kind of warmth of feeling.
First Bill O'Reilly, who has settled a sexual harassment suit brought against him (See RNW Oct 30).. O'Reilly will certainly need a complete personality transplant to get tributes to his human warmth judging by the comments we have seen.
One article, by Margaret Carlson, a contributing editor of Time magazine and Los Angeles Times columnist, that we noted in the Wichita Eagle noted, "The long verbatim quotes in the complaint suggest that Andrea Mackris, the woman bringing the lawsuit, has audiotapes. Add a nice dollop of hypocrisy on the part of a family values proponent in an ostensibly happy marriage, and you've got yourself a good month's worth of shows featuring lawyers, counsellors and clergy chewing the whole thing over."
Carlson, who has a keen eye for the hypocrisies and inconsistencies in many American issues later comments, "I like to scold as much as the next person, but when the shocker about virtues czar Bill Bennett gambling away hundreds of thousands of dollars came out, I didn't demand he stop gambling, just that he stop scolding the rest of us. Ditto for Rush Limbaugh, who needed treatment for his addiction, not prison."
And, she concludes, "In the end, however, celebrities inhabit a value-neutral zone. If O'Reilly is anything like Marv Albert or Arnold Schwarzenegger or Bill Clinton, he will come out better in the end than his accuser."
Then of course there's Howard Stern and his campaign against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and specifically after his phone-in exchange with FCC Chairman Michael Powell (See RNW Oct 27).
Stern has since been attempting to call out Powell on his show, demanding an interview - he said on his show, "I demand it! And you, as taxpayers should demand it. Everywhere he goes, every show he is on, call in [and ask] 'Why are you ducking Howard Stern?'…"If you let me - for an hour - interview the head of the FCC, he would resign
"I'm telling you, I could get the man to resign. That's how lightweight he is. That's how ridiculous his thought process is. This one ten-minute phone call that I made has caused such controversy, because I actually got to him with some of the points. I just grazed the surface. This is the guy who is sitting and telling you what you can listen to, and in a ten-minute conversation, he crumbled."
RNW comment: On the surface nice sound bites but total bollocks of course. Powell as we noted at the time, had no problem in marshalling his arguments but Stern, in transmit mode, was more into repeating accusations and making personal attacks than constructing a sound rational argument.
Finally before going on to listening suggestions, a little more Peel but this time a more acerbic Peel as came out in his writings as Pop critic of the London Observer in the late 1980s. From their selection a sub-selection:
On Madonna in 1987 -- '"Two-dimensional," suggested the Guardian' s man at the Madonna concert at Wembley. 'As good as that?' I muttered to my wife … As Madonna, playing Sleeping Beauty, feigned sleep on stage, torpor was stealing over the audience.'
On Bob Dylan in 1987: "Being an enigma at 20 is fun, being an enigma at 30 shows a lack of imagination, and being an enigma at Dylan's age is just plain daft_ From the moment the living legend took to the stage, it was evident that here was business he wanted accomplished with the minimum of effort."
Putting Ian McCulloch in his place in 1987 - "Ian McCulloch of Echo & the Bunnymen would, I think, have come unplaced in an Ian McCulloch look-alike competition at the NEC Arena last Thursday. As a man who strove to look like Duane Eddy until I realized that only remedial surgery would make me resemble the man with the twanging guitar, I am not about to scoff at anyone who yearns to look like his or her hero or heroine, but the Ian McCullochs were pretty thick on the ground. You will not, unless you search a well-stocked broom cupboard, spot many Will Sergeant look-alikes, but guitarist Will was, reluctant though I am to single out individuals after a first-class team performance, my Man of the Match."
On Dire Straits in 1988 - "Sometimes the music became so lush that I felt as though I was being force-fed Swiss roll. Who could blame Knopfler if he wants to escape from this and from the uncritical audience the band has won for itself? … This concert, he went on, was to get 'the band in gear' for the Mandela-up at Wembley. What did he really think, I wondered, about an event which, hijacked by the marketing thugs, could not conceivably win Nelson Mandela a single day of freedom or hasten the end of apartheid or threaten British interests in South Africa?"
And a dismissal for Wet, Wet, Wet also in 1968 - "The toilets at the reknitted Alexandra Palace have been much improved since I was last there, which, if memory serves, was for the 24-Hour Technicolor Dream in 1967, when I was more worried about missing Pink Floyd (I did) and seeing Brian Jones apparently just walking about (I didn't)…"
And first suggestion for listening after the above has to be BBC Radio 1 and the Steve Lamacq tribute to Peel that the channel aired last Tuesday and that as we write is still on its web site and which certainly contains a wide range of music.
Then from BBC Radio 4, last Saturday's Home Truths includes tributes and a perspective on another aspect of Peel's broadcasting.
Sticking with British characters, BBC Radio 2 tomorrow is airing "Hancock's Half-Century" an evening - from 19:00 to 22:00 GMT - timed to mark the 50th anniversary of the first broadcast of the comic's Hancock's Half Hour programme.
Paul Merton kicks off with a montage of sound bites and comments before a repeat of that first show broadcast exactly 50 years previously worth it if only for the line from Kenneth Williams:" 'My God, there's jelly all over the Rembrandt!"
It's followed at 19:40 by Denis Norden tracing Hancock's early career; at 20:30 with Sunday Afternoon at Home; at 21:00 with an interview by Merton with the show's creators Ray Galton and Alan Simpson; and rounded off at 21:45 GMT with a compilation of clips and tributes.
One to record for dipping into later we'd suggest
Earlier on Tuesday and rather shorter at 30 minutes is Hancock's Helpers on BBC Radio 4 at 11:30 GMT: In it, Russell Davies explores the on and off-air relationships between Tony and his 'helpers', Kenneth Williams, Bill Kerr, Sid James and Hattie Jacques among them.
Keeping to a British theme, BBC Radio 4 each afternoon this week at 15:45 GMT has "Still Angry After All These Years? in which five authors - four 'angry young men' and one woman - return to the towns that provided the inspiration for their classic novels of the late 1950s, early 1960s. The featured writers are Allan Sillitoe, Stan Barstow, Barry Hines, David Storey and Nell Dunn: The works - all of which became movies are Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, A Kind of Loving, A Kestrel for a Knave, This Sporting Life and Up the Junction.
Tonight we'd suggest a different British community in Clash of the Sound Systems on BBC Radio 4, a programme in which Robert Beckford investigates the history of the Jamaican Sound System in Britain and how they've played a vital social and educational role in the black community from the 1950s to the 2004 Notting Hill Carnival.
And to round off the weekend on Radio 4 has Hitler's Jazz Band at 15:30 next Saturday - a look at Charlie and his Orchestra, the jazz music that was broadcast as propaganda from Berlin during the Second World War and featured latest US and British this with re-written lyrics - and finally from Sunday the last of the three-part The Last Hitch-Hiker Rides Again in which Kevin Connolly sets out to hitch-hike from Miami to New York: The second episode is still on the web site - make up your own minds about how much is naïve charm and how much naïve dumb about the presenter.
And after all that, we note we've suggested exclusively BBC shows but without regrets this times: Some of the other worthy material we've noted is still around on demand on sites and the rest was just of a lower standard.
Previous Columnists:
Previous Mahoney:
UK Independent - Dann:
UK Guardian - Mahoney:
UK Observer - Peel pop critic:
UK Times - Sandall:
Washington Post - Beaujon:
Wichita Eagle - Carlson:

2004-11-01: British DJ John Peel, who died last week from a heart attack whilst on a working holiday in Peru (See RNW Oct 27) had held discussions with the British Library about leaving his collection of recordings to the British nation after his death, although this may now be a matter of funding.
The UK Independent quotes his long-time manager, Clive Selwood, as confirmed the discussions and adding, "The idea certainly had favour with him, but we'll just have to see what happens. We would have to act in the best interests of the family."
"It should stay in England, but I've got to try to look after the interests of the family. This was his great asset. He was never a great saver of money."
Last week Selwood was quoted as saying an offer of GBP 1 million (USD 1.8 million) had been made for Peel's collection by an American radio company (See RNW Oct 29).
Peel had built up an exhaustive collection of records, CDs and tapes from all round the world that ranged from recordings by groups he liked to demo recordings from groups that went on to be big names and those from obscure groups from round the world. He was regularly sent recordings from round the world by groups hoping that he would air their songs and used to listen to them in his car whilst driving to and from his Suffolk home to London.
The British Library's Sound Archive includes around 2.5 million recordings but there is no legal requirement on recording companies - unlike organizations that issue printed publications and have to deposit a copy with it - to file material so it has to rely on donations and acquisitions.
The archive's curator for popular music, Andy Linehan, reports the paper, visited the DJ at his home in Suffolk to examine the stack of music which had to be housed in a purpose-built extension owing to its size. "It's a fantastic collection. The nature of the material that was sent to him was the kind of stuff that we couldn't possibly get hold of," he said.
Previous Peel:
UK Independent report:

2004-11-01: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is reported to have reached tentative agreement with its president Robert Rabinovitch on a two-year extension to his five-year contract that ends on November 15.
Rabinovitch is said to have sought a five-year extension but initially offered only one year by the Canadian Heritage Ministry whose remit includes the appointment.
La Journal de Montreal, which has reported the offer to extend his term, also reported that the post had been offered to but turned down by Francis Fox, the former Liberal Minister of Parliament and principal secretary to Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.
The advocacy group, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, has criticized Rabinovitch over a number of issues and said that under his reign the CBC has become more centralized.
It also says appointments to the post of CBC president should not be a matter of patronage and in September issued a report saying that 89% of CBC board appointees had ties to the governing political party, only 21% had been women and 3 of 152 appointees have been visible minorities or aboriginal people.
It also criticizes appointments to the Canadian media regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), saying 87% of appointees to the CRTC were affiliated with the governing party, only 24% have been women, and only two appointees have been visible minorities and none have been aboriginal.
Previous CBC:
Previous CRTC:
Previous Rabinovitch:
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting news releases (Links to release calling for end to "patronage" appointments):

2004-11-01: Jose's oldest radio station, KSJO-FM, which has been a rock station for 36 years, is now broadcasting a Spanish-language oldies format "La Preciosa" following a format switch by Clear Channel under an initiative announced in September to switch up to 25 of its stations to Spanish language programming over the next year to 18 months to tap into the fastest-growing demographic in the US.
Last month it switched WHEL-FM in Georgia in a move that attracted local protests (See RNW Oct 18).
Clear Channel Communications Regional Vice President Ed Krampf told the Mercury News that the San Jose change reflects the growing Latin market and the graying of the rock market. "The fastest part of the market is Latin,'' he said, adding, "Rock is having trouble. Young white kids are listening to hip-hop, and the other young segment is Hispanic . . .. Sometimes you just have to move on.''
The paper notes that in the latest ratings KSJO rated 24th in the market for listeners above 12 whilst Spanish-language KSOL-FM became the top ranked station, the first time a Spanish-language format has beaten long-time leader news-talk KGO-AM.
Previous Clear Channel:
Mercury News report:

2004-11-01: A Taiwanese talk host has filed a lawsuit against Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian and the Secretary-General to the President Su Tseng-chang following a lawsuit started by the president against the host and two legislators.
Jaw Shau-kong, the chairman of UFO Radio, was cited in a case by the President following allegations made by Chaw that Chen had offered USD 1 million to former Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso as a birthday present, ostensibly to cover up unwanted sexual advances. Jaw's comments were repeated by the legislators; he said the basis for the information was a web site he had found using Google, a site that the Taiwanese government said was a Chinese mainland site that is well known to have a high degree of animus toward Taiwan.
Su described the host as a "media disgrace" and "unscrupulous" and James Huang, deputy secretary-general to the president, said Jaw has been in the media long enough to understand journalistic standards but did not follow the basic tenet of verifying a report before transmitting it as "news."
The president demanded that the three defendants publish the court verdict and an apology to him on the front pages of five major local newspapers for three consecutive days and Jaw has now asked the president and his top aide to do the same.
Taiwanese Presidential Office statement re case (English):

2004-11-01: Advertisers and rival radio groups may call for a Competition Commission inquiry into the merger agreed between UK Capital Radio and GWR according to the UK Independent.
The paper says that industry groups including the advertisers' association ISBA are concerned that the combined group, with some 40% of UK national radio advertising, would dominate the industry and could use its clout to raise advertising rates.
The paper also says that according to "industry sources", Emap has asked that that combined group be prevented from acquiring any new licences for five years and that demands by other respondents to the call for comments by the Office for Fair Trading (OFT) - due in by tomorrow - have said that the group should have to sale some of its licences in areas where it would have particular market dominance.
The paper says some of the respondents say that if media regulator Ofcom and the OFT are unable to impose these conditions, some advertisers and radio groups are calling for the proposed merger to be referred to the Competition Commission for a full review.
Previous Capital:
Previous Emap:
Previous GWR:
Previous Ofcom:
UK Independent report:

Links note: As far as possible we provide site links to the previous related story. Should these links not work, please advise us so we can sort out the problem.
Regarding external links, we give links where we can but an ever-increasing number of newspapers and stations either require registration or only keep items available for a limited period or move them to a pay-per-use archive (typically after 7 or 14 days in the USA).
Thus some links become outdated or sources you would have to pay for or subscribe to access.
See links page for notes regarding various sites we think of value

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